SUNSET, S.C. – Harvard women's golf wrapped up its run at the Clemson Invitational this morning, finishing in 12th place with a team score of eight-over-par. The Crimson came in above three teams with higher rankings including Penn State, UNC-Wilmington and Nebraska. First-year Vanessa Zhang posted one of the best efforts of her young career, shooting a team-best eight-under-par in the tournament to record her fourth-straight top 10 finish.
 

How it Happened

The action began on Friday (Mar. 28) in round one which saw Harvard shoot 301 (+13) as a team. Vanessa Zhang continued to impress out of the gates, shooting a team low 71 (-1) while carding five birdies on the first 18 holes. Bonnie Zhai and Michelle Liu both carded rounds of 76 (+4) and Iris Wang's score of 78 (+6) factored into the Crimson scoring in the round. Harvard ended the first day of the tournament in 13^th place in the field.
 
Zhang began to catch fire on day two to start her vault up the leaderboard. Zhang recorded six birdies in the second-round score to shoot 69 (-3) and help her move into 13^th place in the field after 36 holes of golf. Michelle Liu also made a splash in the second round by carding a 71 (-1) and moving up nine spots on the leaderboard. Yuan shot an even-par 72 and Wang's score of 74 (+2) helped Harvard move up a spot in the team standings to 12^th after 36 holes.
 
Day two of the tournament was extended by nine holes due to weather coming into the area on Sunday. The teams played the first half of the third round on Saturday with the final nine holes coming on Sunday's final round.
 
Harvard lit up the course in the first nine holes of the third round on Saturday, with Zhang once again leading the way with a nine-hole score of 32 (-5). Zhang birdied her last five holes to move to nine-under in the tournament and climb into third place. Liu added three birdies to her score in the half-round to jump up another 10 spots on the leaderboard while Zhai (-1) and Yuan (E) also impressed.
 
The Crimson continued its strong play on the last day of the tournament, finishing the final round of play with a team score of three-under-par. Zhang would go on to finish the tournament at eight-under-par which put her tied for eighth in the field. Michelle Liu posted a score of one-over-par to place 41^st.
 

Final Results

1. Ohio State (-45)
2. Arkansas (-35)
3. LSU (-26)
4. Tennessee (-19)
5. SMU (-16)
6. Louisville (-15)
7. Ole Miss (-10)
8. Clemson (-10)
9. Maryland (-5)
10. Miami (-2)
11. Michigan State (-1)
12. Harvard (+8)
13. Penn State (+15)
14. UNCW (+17)
15. Nebraska (+27)

 

Individual Results

T8 | Vanessa Zhang | 71, 69, 68 | -8
T41 | Michelle Liu | 76, 71, 70 | +1
T66 | Iris Wang | 78, 74, 73 | +9
T66 | Lucy Yuan | 79, 72, 74 | +9
T75 | Bonnie Zhai | 76, 75, 76 | +11
 

Up Next

The Crimson will play in its final regular season tournament of the season next week when it travels to the University of Maryland Golf Course to compete in the Terps Invitational. The Tournament is slated for Sunday and Monday (Apr. 6-7).