The competition was fierce at the close of the Yale Women’s Golf Invitational Sunday at The Course at Yale, but in the end the Elis prevailed.

Yale defeated the University of Richmond in a playoff to take home the first-place trophy. Both the Bulldogs and the Spiders shot a 650 at the two-day event. Georgetown finished third with a 652, and Rollins came in fourth with a 654.

“We all didn’t expect Richmond to come so close,” Eli golfer January Romero ’06 said. “We thought Rollins was going to be our biggest threat.”

Rollins’ Charlotte Campbell won the Invitational individual title with a 148. Ellie Brophy ’08, the top Yale finisher, came in fifth place with a 159. Romero tied for sixth with a 160, while Cindy Shin ’07 and Lauren Ressler ’06 shot a 155 and 156 to finish 13th and 16th, respectively. Lindsay Hong ’08 posted a 160 to finish tied for 28th.

After 18 holes of play Saturday the Bulldogs held a slight lead with 324 strokes — just two strokes under Rollins, four under Richmond and five under Georgetown. Brophy led Yale with a 79, which was the second-best round overall for the first day. Romero followed closely with a 80. Meanwhile, Shin, Ressler and Hong finished one stroke apart with scores of 82, 83 and 84, respectively.

The following afternoon, in less-than-preferable weather, Richmond threatened to take the lead as Ally Caffrey and Lauren Brown paced the Spiders with a 77 and 75, respectively. Brophy and Romero, Yale’s top finishers Sunday as well, only managed to shoot an 80 each. By the end of the day, Richmond caught up with the Bulldogs, forcing a scorecard playoff.

According to playoff rules, in the event of a tie for first place, officials compare the scores of the tied teams’ fifth golfer. The team whose fifth golfer has the lower score is named the winner. Natasha Lopez Moreir, Richmond’s fifth golfer, shot a 185. Hong, Moreir’s counterpart, posted a 170, giving Yale the victory.

“The conditions outside were very tough and windy, and the grass was more slick, which we had to get used to,” Shin said. “But in the end we won, so I’m still happy with the way we played.”

Romero was likewise pleased with the team’s performance.

“Even though the weather and course was pretty bad, I still think as a team we all did really well,” Romero said.

The opposing Ivy teams posed little threat throughout the tournament. Dartmouth finished seventh with a 683, while Harvard finished eighth with a 685 and Brown finished ninth with a 687.

The Elis have shown marked improvement this fall. Last season at the Yale Invitational, the Bulldogs had to settle for a second-place finish behind Princeton. Earlier this season, the Elis finished sixth at the University of Pennsylvania Invitational, whereas last year they placed seventh.

The Bulldogs return to action next weekend at the Georgia State Invitational in Atlanta.

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