Golf: Tigers place 5th, 6th at Ivy tourney

The three-day tournament presented the Tigers with difficulties from the start, as the wind blew strongly throughout Friday.

“I thought the toughest part of the course was the windy conditions of the first day,” Shon said. “Thirty-five-mph winds, with the greens as quick as they were, made the golf balls roll wherever, without even hitting it.”

For Shon, the first day of competition was even tougher. After a trip to the emergency room following the first round for what she described as “a scary combination of a lot of wind, terrible allergies, pneumonia and an asthma attack,” Shon needed to decide whether she would finish the tournament. She eventually decided to continue on.

“It was a tough decision, against my coach’s will, to choose to play the second and third round,” she said.

Shon ultimately finished plus-23, placing seventh individually and just two shots shy of the first-team All-Ivy League cutoff. Senior Wonji Choi posted a strong outing as well, tying for 12th at plus-33. Freshmen Mary Funk and Joyce Kim finished 30th and 34th, respectively, while classmate Christine Kong missed the first round on Friday but played the final two, scoring for Princeton with an 85 on Sunday.

The tournament brought mixed feelings for the Tigers, who have been plagued by injuries while trying to train a younger squad.

“I think the tournament reflected our season pretty accurately,” Shon said. “It’s been tough competing with a small and medically ill team, but the good news is that we have a very young team, and it can only get better from here.”

On Monday evening, Shon was selected to compete in the NCAA East Regional at Penn State, reaching regional play for a second straight year.

The men’s team finished behind Penn and Dartmouth, which tied for first — the Quakers took the league title in a playoff — as well as behind Columbia and Harvard. Individually, Harmeling led the Tigers, finishing sixth at plus-16, while Jarmas took 10th at plus-18.

“Galloway National is a really tough course. I usually describe it as being very hard from tee to green, and then once you get to the greens, it gets much, much harder,” Jarmas said. “So the greens are the most difficult aspect — very fast and very undulating. It was also very windy on Friday.”

Junior Bernie D’Amato finished close behind Jarmas, tying for 11th at plus-19. And in their last Ivy League Championships, Rob Owen tied for 25th and Patrick Wasserman tied for 39th.

“Our strategy was to try to make the game as simple as possible, keeping the ball in play and hitting fairways and greens, taking what the course gave us,” Jarmas said. “You have to stay really patient out there when the course is playing so tough.”

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Princeton’s result is indicative of how the Tigers have played in their tournaments this year.

“The tournament was pretty reflective of the season, in that we came up just a bit short and never had everybody put it together on the same day for a great score,” Jarmas said.

Both the men and women will look to move into the upcoming season with more consistent squads. While the men need to deal with losing four seniors, many of the returning players such as Jarmas and D’Amato, as well as his younger brother freshman Joseph D’Amato, have proved to be strong competitors at various points in the season.

The women are looking at a year of rebuilding and expanding, losing only Choi from their roster. With three rising sophomores, as well as Shon’s increasingly consistent performances throughout the season, the Tigers have the potential to significantly improve their standings in the Ivy League.

“As a team, I just hope we don’t get discouraged by our season this year and keep moving forward,” Shon said.