The Harvard men's golf team enters the Ivy League Tournament in Bethpage, N.Y. today in a peculiarly tough position.

The team is down one body. One Body to be exact.

Harvard will have to make due this weekend without sophomore Lou Body, a key member of team who is currently making his home in Stillman Infirmary.

Nevertheless, the Crimson does have the talent to win the tournament, though it will certainly not be an easy task for a team which finished third in 1991 and last won the trophy when Gerald Ford was president.

Freshman Jack Wiley will take Body's place on the five-man squad. The main challenge for both Wiley and the rest of the Crimson will be the course.

"Its a really strong, different test of how good a team is ,"senior Rob Kincaid said "It's an ususally long course.

Senior Andy Chao also thinks that the 7200-yard course will be tought to adjust to for some members of the Crimson used to narrow courses.

"My strong point has been the short game. [At Bethpage], you have to hit the driver well. There are relatively few medium-length par fours," Chao said.

The Crimson managed a respectable tie with Yale at the H-Y-P's last week, collecting 402 total strokes. Princeton took first (on its home course) during that competition, but the unusually young Tigers are not expected to perform as strongly in Long Island.

"At Princeton, a lot of course knowledge helped. Had you not known the course, you wouldn't have known where to be safe," Chao said.

Oh, To Beat Yale

Harvard's main competition will come from Yale. The Elis are led by senior Bob Heintz, who shot 150 (77-73), last year, and senior Greg Hull, who finished second at the lvies last year.

Dartmouth, the runner-up in 1991, could also make a strong bid at the tournament behind All-Ivy junior Jason Kissell and teammate Dave Aznavoran.

Brown, Cornell, Columbia and Pennsylvania remain the dark horses in the competition, having played relatively few matches this spring.

Of those teams, the only real standout is Lions' junior Bob Latkany, who shot a 75 at Bethpage during the St. John's Invitational in the fall.