Golf: Hosts tie for 3rd place at weekend’s Princeton Invitational

“Penn and Yale, as the scores show, played very well,” freshman Taylor Peck said. “They were able to string together a number of impressive rounds, which in the end separated them from the rest of the field.”

Peck and sophomore Bernie D’Amato tied as the top scorers for the Tigers, with a plus-5 finish. Senior Eric Salazar finished with a plus-13, junior Chase Lovett-Woodsum with a plus-16 and junior Patrick Wasserman with a plus-18.

“We had a pretty good weekend,” junior Evan Harmeling said.

“It was a little tough having Yale beat us at our home course, but we’re going up to their tournament this weekend so we’ll have a chance to do the same to them. Ivies are obviously the most important thing, since they are the only way we can qualify for NCAAs, so this past tournament was a good tune-up for our games.”

This tournament was the Tigers’ second to last prior to their Ivy League Championship tournament, which also takes place over the weekend of April 22 but will be played in Galloway, N.J. The next tournament for the Tigers is the Century Intercollegiate, hosted by Yale next weekend in Purchase, N.Y.

“Our upcoming tournament is a great way for us to evaluate how ready we are for the Ivy League Championship,” Peck said.

“We will obviously be looking for a win, but as [head coach Will] Green has been telling us since the fall, our ultimate goal is winning Ivies, and we all need to put the time in to make sure each and every one of us gets better every day and works as hard as we can to achieve what Princeton golf hasn’t done since 2006. I think if we can all make a conscious effort to avoid making little mistakes that lead to big numbers, then we can certainly make a run at it.”

The women’s golf team took first place in its final tournament of the spring before it competes in the Ivy League Championship Tournament during the weekend of April 22 in Atlantic City, N.J. The Tigers competed in the Brown Invitational in Rhode Island and finished in first place in a field of 13 other teams. Second place went to Harvard, which was eight strokes behind the Tigers. Yale, Brown and Dartmouth also competed in the tournament, taking fourth, seventh and ninth places, respectively.

All four of Princeton’s scorers placed in the tournament’s top 10 scorers. Freshman Kelly Shon led the Tigers with a plus-1, achieving runner-up medalist status. Senior Kate Scarpetta finished with a plus-3, senior Rachel Blum with a plus-4 and junior Wonji Choi with a plus-5.

The win gives rookie head coach Nikki Cutler her second tournament win for the year. The Tigers also won the Turtle Bay Resort Collegiate Invitational during the fall season.