Entering its first tournament of the year, the Harvard men’s golf team was confident about its chances of making this season a watershed year for the program. With new head coach and Harvard alum Dan Mahoney ’89 handling the reins along with an experienced group of golfers, the Crimson headed to the annual Dartmouth Invitational at Hanover Country Club looking to start its season off with a bang.

“We have a solid nucleus of returning players and have added some terrific new talent,” captain Andrew Klein said before the tournament. “We had one of our better showings at Dartmouth last year and are certainly excited to tee it up this weekend. We definitely have the potential to be in contention every week and haven’t been shy about setting our sights high this year.”

After the first round of play in this 36-hole affair, Harvard wasn’t in the position it had envisioned. Despite a 73 from Klein and 74 from junior Chris Wu on Saturday, the Crimson found itself in the middle of the 19-team pack. With a combined total score of 23 over par, Harvard was tied for ninth, 18 strokes behind arch rival and tournament-leading Yale.

“Although we played reasonably well, we really feel that we could have played better and had much to improve on,” Wu said. “We felt that if we could make a few adjustments, we could’ve made a run on Sunday.”

Unfortunately for Harvard, that did not quite happen. Leading scorer Klein moved backward in the second round, firing a seven-over 78. He finished with a total weekend score of nine over par.

Wu, meanwhile, turned in Harvard’s best round of the entire tournament with a one-under-par 70 yesterday afternoon and took top team honors for the weekend.

“Chris played very well this weekend, especially Sunday,” sophomore teammate D.J. Hynes said. “With 16 greens hit in regulation along with two birdies and only one bogey, he was our most consistent player by far.”

Hynes himself turned in the Crimson’s second-best round yesterday with a two-over-par 73. Hynes had been at even par, but bogeyed both the 17th and 18th holes. He finished 11-over-par for the tournament, good enough for Harvard’s third-best score.

Rounding out the Crimson’s scoring were senior Neal Hegge (83-79), junior Matt Amis (78-77) and sole freshman Jin Park (80-80).

Noticeably disappointed with this weekend’s turn of events, Harvard’s golfers have only one week of practice before they face their next test at the Toski Invitational hosted by Amherst College.

And though it knows it has much to work on, the team remains optimistic about its chances for the rest of the year.

“We’re really fired up going into next week,” Hynes said.

Amidst laughter from his teammates, Hynes even guaranteed victory next weekend. While Hynes’ comment was intended to be taken with a grain of salt, there does seem to be a different sort of confidence on this year’s team than in years past.

Much of this newfound optimism can be attributed to the manner in which Mahoney manages the daily affairs of the team. After long-time coach Bob Leonard retired this summer, Nichols Family Director of Athletics Bob Scalise hired Mahoney to take control of the men’s program in late August.

At Harvard, Mahoney spent four years on the golf team and played freshman soccer. As head coach, his responsibilities include coordinating all facets of the team’s preparation, practice, tournaments, recruiting and travel.

Although Mahoney is less than a month into his tenure, his golfers have already begun to notice a strong impact.

“Coach Mahoney has brought a lot more structure to the program,” Hynes said. “We now have much more organized practices and that’s been helpful in many ways.”

“Our practice routine has been completely overhauled this year,” Klein added. “We not only hope, but also expect to see the added structure pay dividends on the course throughout the entire season.”