COLUMBUS, Ohio – A second round surge from the Harvard women's golf team propelled the group to a sixth-place finish at the Buckeye Invitational this weekend. The Crimson shot a combined team score of 911 (+47) to finish as the second best non-ranked team in the field. Impressively, Harvard came in with a better score than No. 28 Northwestern at the event, the highest ranked team the Crimson has knocked off this season.
 

How it Happened

The team's final tournament before the Ivy League Championships, Harvard made its way to Ohio this weekend to compete in the Therese Hession Buckeye Invitational. Ohio State University hosted the event at its home course – the Ohio State University Golf Course – and welcomed in a talented field of teams. Harvard got to face off against six of the nation's top 50 programs at the event as it looked to sharpen its skills before next week's league championship.
 
Harvard started off the tournament in the middle of the pack after posting a team score of 305 (+17) in the opening round. The Crimson was slotted in seventh place after the first-round scores were tallied. Iris Wang started strong on day one, posting a score of 74 (+2) to lead the Crimson. The senior captain carded three birdies on the back nine, positioning herself in the top 10 after the first 18 holes. Lucy Yuan (+4), Vanessa Zhang (+5) and Nikki Iniakov (+6) all factored into the Crimson's team score.
 
Zhang began to light up the course in the second round, carding five birdies to post a score of 70 (-2). Tied for the lowest round in the field during the second round, Zhang ran up the leaderboard and into the top five after the remarkable performance. Wang also continued her strong play, matching her first-round score with another 74 (+2). Yuan (+5) and Dixon Hill (+6) finished off the team scoring for Harvard, who jumped up into sixth place after combining for a score of 299 (+11).
 
The sophomore Zhang continued her strong play in the third round, leading the team with a score of 70 (-2) in a round that featured four birdies and a bogey-free back nine. The Canadian flew up the leaderboard into third place where she finished the tournament just one-over-par. Yuan (+6), Iniakov (+7), and Hill (+8) pitched in to the team scoring to contribute to Harvard's third round score of 307 (+19). The score moved Harvard into sixth-place where it finished tied with No. 43 Indiana.
 

Harvard Highlights

• Zhang secured another top-five finish, coming in third place individually with a tournament score of 217 (+1).
• As a team, Harvard carded 33 birdies, the sixth most in the field.
• Zhang had the best scoring average on par four holes, going -1 overall in the tournament.
• The sophomore also had the seventh fewest bogeys in the field, totaling only 10 across the three rounds.

 

Team Results

1. Ohio State (+26)
2. Iowa State (+28)
3. Kent State (+30)
4. Michigan State (+39)
5. Xavier (+41)
T6. Indiana (+47)
T6. Harvard (+47)
8. Northwestern (+49)
9. Ruthers (+72)
10. Ball State (+90)
11. Western Michigan (+93)
12. Youngstown State (+99)
13. Ohio (+108)
14. Toledo (+128)
 

Individual Results

3 | Vanessa Zhang | 77-70-70 | +1
T26 | Lucy Yuan | 76-77-78 | +15
T29 | Iris Wang | 74-74-84 | +16
T41 | Dixon Hill | 79-78-80 | +21
T54 | Nikki Iniakov | 78-84-79 | +25
73 | Sirina Ganne (Ind.) | 87-86-94 | +51
 

Up Next

The Crimson will prepare for the 2026 Ivy League Championship Tournament, which is set for April 24-26. The famous Baltusrol Golf Club will host the Ancient Eight tournament, which will decide the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Championship in May. The Crimson will look to improve on its second-place finish from a season ago when it heads to Springfield, N. J. to compete in the tournament next weekend.