April 13, 2009

Shuman Places Third at Princeton Invitational

PRINCEON, N.J. – This weekend the Crimson traveled to its third spring tournament which took place in the idyllic country setting of Princeton, New Jersey. During the practice round and getting to know Princeton’s home Springdale golf course, the Crimson realized the course had some familiar design characteristics. Springdale was designed by architect, William S. Flynn, who also crafted Harvard’s home course in Brookline. This added a sense of familiarity to the tournament.

However, the pleasant weather the team enjoyed in practice soon became a distant memory as Saturday greeted the team with steady rain, gusting winds, and finger-numbing cold -- brutal spring conditions even by New England standards. Following two weather delays, the anticipated 36-hole Saturday marathon became an 18-hole mud slog. Greg Shuman, unfazed by the mid-round stops, severe winds, and mud-soaked course posted a pristine one-under 70 that was good for the first-day individual lead. Mike Shore, struggling with his putting all day, managed to hold his round together in the wind. He came up with a unique solution to his problems by keeping the putter in the bag and holing out for eagle on the finishing par-4 18th to post 75. Tony Grillo shot 78, and Danny Mayer shot 81 to complete the team’s scores. John Christensen shot 82. The team’s score of 304 was good for a respectable 4th place result behind Rutgers, Columbia, and Princeton after day one.

Sunday brought more sun, but increased wind replaced Saturday’s gloomy rain. With similarly difficult conditions, Harvard struggled to create any positive momentum and dropped back to 8th out of 14 teams. Greg Shuman shot 77, which, combined with his great performance Saturday, was good for a commendable 3rd place individual finish in a large and talented field. John Christensen shot 76, Danny Mayer shot 78, and Mike Shore shot 84 to complete the team score of 315. Tony Grillo also shot 86.

The Princeton Invitational was a good tune-up to the Ivy League Championship as it provided the Crimson with an opportunity to compete against six Ivy League schools. While the team was disappointed with their performance in only beating one of their Ivy competitors, they believe the tournament showed areas that can easily be improved upon. The team looks forward to contending with many of the Ivy teams at Caves Valley next week in the final tournament before the Ivy Championship.

Par: 71 71 Daily Low Round

Yardage: 6390 6390 Daily Leader Both

Fin Team Scores

1 Rutgers University 294 302 596 +28

2 Yale University 305 300 605 +37

3 Pennsylvania, U. of 305 305 610 +42

4 Columbia University 298 315 613 +45

5 St. Bonaventure U. 304 310 614 +46

6 St. John's Univ. 309 308 617 +49

7 Princeton University 301 317 618 +50

8 Harvard University 304 315 619 +51

9 Towson University 309 312 621 +53