Taking the course for the third time this fall, the Harvard men’s golf team traveled to New Haven, Conn. looking to defend its MacDonald Cup title from a season ago. After 54 holes of play over the weekend, the Crimson was able to squeak out a win by two strokes, hoisting the trophy once more.
Heading into play Sunday, Harvard found itself trailing Stirling University by two shots. However, the Crimson was able to rebound, recapturing the lead it had lost in round two by firing a 277. Stirling put together a team total of 281 in round three, cementing a runner-up finish.
“Our team is in a really good place right now,” Harvard coach Kevin Rhoads said. “They looked that way last week at Dartmouth; they really looked that way this week. There were some extenuating circumstances with [the] round being really long and having to finish holes at sunrise on Sunday, but it didn’t seem to affect the way our guys played.”
The tournament, hosted by the Yale Bulldogs, took place at The Course at Yale, which played at a par 70 over the weekend. The course features two par five holes, as well as four par threes.
Placing third was fellow Ancient Eight squad Yale, which rode a third-round shot count of 274 to move four spots up the leaderboard. That output was good enough to put the Bulldogs six strokes under par Sunday, the best round three total of any school.
Also finishing in the top 10 was Toledo, UConn, Boston College, a second team from Yale, Hartford, and Rutgers.
On the individual side of play, Harvard was led by senior Robert Deng. Deng’s five-under finish was good enough to position him fourth out of 88 entrants. His first round 65 put him five shots below the watermark, behind only eventual champion Matt Naumec of Boston College and Nabeel Khan of Connecticut.
“We are enjoying a really fun space right now with a team that is both very deep and very good,” Rhoads said. “For Rob, he had to miss the first tournament due to family funeral, but he’s been able to come back and finish second last week and fourth this week, so he’s really overcome any setbacks from missing play.”
Yale’s Li Wang finished with the top individual score among Ivy League players, riding a seven-under to a finish in second place. He came into play Sunday tied with Naumec for the lead.
Junior Greg Royston sandwiched round one and three scores of 69 around a round two output of 72, leaving him at even par overall and in seventh place. Sophomore Seiya Liu ended as part of an eight-man tie for 16th at four-over. Senior Kendrick Vinar was one stroke behind him, tying with two others for 24th. Rounding out the squad for Harvard on the weekend was freshman Rij Patel, finishing tied for 33rd.
Several players for the Crimson had to finish their round two holes early Sunday, as darkness postponed play Saturday night. In accordance with tournament rules, these players are not allowed practice prior to the completion of the round.
“The way we’ve been working on thinking on the course is how to approach things the right way,” Royston said. “It’s a part of golf that things don’t always go your way, like having to finish the round two holes on Sunday, but we were able to retain composure and put forth our best effort.”
Princeton, Dartmouth, and Penn joined Harvard and Yale to represent the Ivy League, finishing fourth, 12th, and tied for 15th, respectively. 17 schools took part in the tournament overall.
Additional teams who competed over the weekend were East Tennessee State, Fordham, Sacred Heart, St. Edward’s, and Fairfield.
The Crimson will take three weeks off from tournament play before next traveling to South Carolina to take part in the Camden Collegiate Invitational to conclude the fall half of its split season.
—Staff writer Jed Rothstein can be reached at jrothstein@college.harvard.edu.
