Penn men's golf surges to second-place finish in shortened invitational

While the world’s best professional golfers were competing for a green jacket at the Masters in Georgia, Penn men’s and women’s golf played in tournaments in New Jersey and Florida.

At the Princeton Invitational, which was played over a shortened 36 holes at Springdale Golf Club due to concerns about inclement weather, the men finished in second place out of twelve teams. The women’s team, which competed in the Harvard Invitational at The Oaks Club in Osprey, Florida, finished eighth in the 11 team field.

The men shot a 5-over-par on Friday and Saturday, finishing the two-day event three strokes behind champion Yale. With that score, the Quakers were able to finish ahead of fellow Ivy League rivals Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, and Brown.

Senior and captain Carter Thompson, also a Daily Pennsylvanian associate sports editor, finished in third place individually at 3-under-par and was satisfied with the team’s performance. 

“I think we were all really happy with how we played, and I think most importantly how we stacked up against a lot of the other teams,” Thompson said. “We knew that since it was a shortened event it wasn’t necessarily a perfect indication of what Ivies is going to be like, but all of the Ivy League teams except for Dartmouth were there this weekend, so it was nice to be able to have a good performance against all of those teams.”

The Red and Blue had a couple of other solid individual performances, as junior Zareh Kaloustian finished tied for fifth and junior Josh Goldenberg finished tied for 11th. Thompson, who was the team’s low scorer, thought there were a few keys to the Quakers’ good play.

“I think what you saw this weekend was a lot of birdie opportunities and birdies from practicing wedges so much and practicing our short game so much,” Thompson said. “On top of that, everyone did a very good job of being patient and not really trying to force a good result to happen, just kind of letting the round come to us as it did. I think ultimately it was a combination of wedge work that we did in the wintertime and everyone being in the right mindset to play well.”

The women’s team was not quite as successful, finishing its three-round event on Sunday with a score of 77-over-par. Harvard won the tournament with 38-over-par, but the Quakers were able to finish ahead of Ivy League opponents Princeton, Brown, and Dartmouth. Freshman Rina Jung was the team’s low scorer, finishing in a tie for 11th with a score of 227 over the 54 holes.

Next, the two teams will shift their attention to the Ivy League Championship, which will take place from April 20 to 22. The men will compete in the Yale Invitational the weekend before Ivies, and they are looking ahead with confidence.

“I think we’re all feeling great,” Thompson said. “Everybody’s been working really hard and everyone is kind of peaking at the right time it feels like, and that’s really exciting because I think we’ve been building over the last couple years and this is a great opportunity for us to go and show everyone what we have.”

So while Penn golf may not have won a green jacket this weekend, it is still optimistic about the future.