CARMEL, Calif. – The Harvard women's golf team had a solid showing in its first tournament of the 2025 Spring season, placing second at the Dallas Baptist University (DBU)Invitational at the Quail Lodge Golf Club in California. The Crimson's team score of 887 was second only to the host school, DBU, and its team score of 885. The squad was led by first-year Vanessa Zhang and junior Iris Wang who shot even-par and one-over-par in the tournament to finish in second and fourth place, respectively.
 

How It Happened

Harvard made its first appearance of the 2025 Spring season this weekend at the DBU Patriot Invitational. The Quail Golf Club was the host site to the 15-team tournament that included three rounds of competition.
 
Harvard started off the tournament strong, taking a hold of the lead after 18 holes of play. The group shot a five-over-par team score of 289 to take a two-stroke lead in the early going. Vanessa Zhang led the charge with a tournament low round of 68 in her first 18 holes. The round included four birdies and just one bogey as the first-year moved into the lead in the field. Iris Wang, Michelle Liu and Lucy Yuan also impressed, carding round of 72, 73 and 76 to contribute to the round one scoring. Catie Schernecker who was playing as an individual in the tournament also had a great start to the tournament, shooting a two-over-par round of 73.
 
The Crimson held onto the lead in the second round, posting a team score of 297, 13-over-par, behind a one-under-par round from Zhang, who remained in first place individually after 36 holes of play. Wang's 73 and Yuan's 74 helped the team hold onto the top spot on the leaderboard heading into the final round on Tuesday. Bonnie Zhai shot a nine-over-par in the second round to complete the Crimson scoring. Schernecker carded a 77 in the second round to move into 11^th-place overall after the conclusion of the second round.
 
Iris Wang caught fire in the final round of play, leading the team scoring with an impressive round of 70 or one-under-par. Zhang, Liu and Yuan posted scores of 75, 77 and 79 to complete the Crimson scoring in the final round of play. The team's effort was only bested by one team, the host school Dallas Baptist, who used a team score of three-over-par in the final round to take the tournament championship.

Individually, Zhang finished tied for second place in the 85-golfer field with her tournament score of even-par 213. Iris Wang was just behind her teammate in fourth place with an individual round of 215 or two-over-par. In her first tournament this season, Catie Schernecker impressed with a score of 13-over-par and a 15^th place finish in the field. Lucy Yuan and Michelle Liu each finished in the top-30 with scores of 16-over-par and 18-over-par, respectively.
 

Final Team Results

1 – Dallas Baptist (+33)
2 – Harvard (+35)
3 – CSU San Marcus (+41)
4 – North Georgia (+45)
5 – Biola (+62)
6 – CSU Los Angeles (+67)
7 – Arkansas Tech (+70)
8 – Sonoma State (+71)
9 – Rogers State (+85)
10 – CSU East Bay (+91)
11 – Academy of Art (+93)
12 – Angelo State (+107)
13 – CSU Monterey Bay (+120)
14 – Jessup (+143)
15 – Chico State (+150)
 

Individual Results

T2 – Vanessa Zhang (5) | 68, 70, 75 | E
4 – Iris Wang (2) | 72, 73, 70 | +2
T15 – Catie Schernecker (Ind) | 73, 77, 76 | +13
23 – Lucy Yuan (3) | 76, 74, 79 | +16
T26 – Michelle Liu (4) | 73, 81, 77 | +18
T43 – Bonnie Zhai (1) | 77, 80, 79 | +23
T65 – Bridget Ma (Ind) | 79, 83, 86 | +35
 

Up Next

The Crimson will return to the course on March 28 when it travels to South Carolina to compete at the Clemson Invitational. The tournament will be played at The Reserve at Lake Keowee with the 54-hole competition running from Mar. 28-Mar. 30.