-By Kevin Rhoads

The Crimson's second tournament of the season was the Golfweek Conference Challenge. In its second year of existence, the Conference Challenge is a unique opportunity for teams around the country, who rarely see each other, to compete. The tournament invites the highest-ranked teams from each of the 18 major conferences from the previous fall. If one of those teams cannot compete, the next highest-ranked team in each conference is invited, and so on. The result creates non-traditional opponents competing at a very high level. Eight different conference champions were represented at the tournament, and 13 of the 18 teams were top 60 teams in the country entering the season. 

The tournament was contested at Red Sky Golf Club outside Vail, Colorado. The tournament venue was truly stunning. The Tom Fazio-designed golf course is set into the mountainside 20 minutes south of Vail, with the back nine weaving in and out of the golden-leaved Aspen trees. The weather was gorgeous, with very little wind and temperatures that ranged from the mid-sixties to high-seventies during the rounds.

The layout itself proved to be challenging for all but the top-10 teams in the field. The driving areas were manageable, but the greens were where the scoring either did or did not occur. Due to the changes in elevation, firmness, and severe undulations, the greens were very difficult. Unless a player was able to flight their approach shots high and with a good deal of spin, and unless a player was controlling their ball very specifically with their putting and chipping, they had their hands full.

Coming off of a challenging start last week at Princeton, Harvard was looking to rebound. After the breakout start to last year's Conference Challenge in which the Crimson tied for 7th overall, the ladies hoped to have another strong showing against a national field. The field was tougher this year, and the Crimson are not as sharp. Thus Harvard was unable to repeat last year's performance.

In round one Bonnie Hu ('13) continued her very strong play for the year thus far, shooting 73. This put her only four shots out of first place individually. Christine Cho ('12) shot 76. Jane Lee ('12) shot 80. Captain Mia Kabasakalis ('11) shot 81, and Fritzi Reuter ('13) shot 84. Harvard's 310 total left them 23 shots out of first place, and in13th place overall. This was the position in which they would finish the tournament two days later.

Round two proved slightly tougher than the first round. The Crimson's confidence on the greens was slightly damaged in round one, and the greens proved even more challenging with difficult pin placements. Cho lead Harvard with 77, Hu, Kabasakalis and Lee shot 79, and Reuter shot 83.

In round three Harvard got off to a promising start. Lee and Reuter were even par through 7 holes. Hu was +1 through 9. Cho was +3 through 8 holes, and Kabasakalis started by making birdie on her first hole. Unfortunately they could not sustain that level throughout the round.   Hu was again solid in posting 75. Her 227 total left her tied for 30th, again the top Crimson performer. Cho and Lee both shot 80, with Cho finishing 49^th and Lee finishing 59th. Kabasakalis managed an 81 finishing 67th, and Reuter shot 84, finishing 88th. The Crimson beat Campbell University, ranked 50th in the country coming into the tournament, and Coastal Carolina, ranked 60th.

This tournament shows that the Crimson can still compete with the top 60 schools in the country. The level of each player's game stacked up adequately to all but the elite players. It also shows that there is a great deal of work to be done throughout this year.   Their sharpness and confidence, which comes from competitive success, are not where they need to be. Nearing the halfway point of the fall season, the Crimson are in an unaccustomed position of not being at the level they want to be. The team has been working hard, but they'll need to continue that hard work until the very end of the season. The challenges they are now facing will help define what kind of team they will be. 

Fazio Course: Championship Tees   Par 72 – 6247 yards