If golfer Elisabeth Bernabe ’17 believes that freshmen struggle to transition to college, she certainly has not shown it.
Bernabe medaled for the second straight tournament as she led the women’s golf team to its second-straight victory to start the fall season. The Elis won this weekend’s Yale Intercollegiate by 22 strokes over second-place Xavier University.
Yale’s triumph on the fairways came just one weekend after taking the Dartmouth Invitational by 23 strokes over runner-up Boston University at Hanover Country Club.
“We know this course,” Bernabe said. “We are confident with our club selections, our aim and our decisions when we are playing. Plus, the Course at Yale is extremely hilly. Many of the other teams did not anticipate the level of difficulty they would encounter when walking the course.”
Bernabe has been anything but green on the links so far in her Yale career, absolutely stroking for the Bulldogs from the tee to the cup. After finishing three-under to win the two-day Dartmouth Invitational, Bernabe ended the three days at the Course at Yale atop the individual standings with a total score of just one over par at 214.
“We knew Liz was a very talented golfer coming into college, and we are all extremely proud of her in her accomplishments thus far,” golfer Seo Hee Moon ’14 said. “She’s incredibly consistent — greens and fairways all day. She’s also very experienced in competing under pressure and with other good golfers. I look forward to watching the rest of her golf career.”
The freshman phenom got more than enough help from her teammates as the Elis ran away from the pack this weekend. Moon shot a tournament-low round of 68 on Sunday to chip into a tie for second with Penn’s Amanda Chin at five-over for the weekend.
Moon credited a late adjustment with her success on Sunday.
“During the first two days, my putting wasn’t good,” Moon said. “So on the last day I decided to tweak it a little bit and it ended up being the best it’s been in a long time. It allowed me to make a lot of clutch birdie putts and save pars.”
Golfers Marika Liu ’15 (+8) and Sandy Wongwaiwate ’17 (+9) finished third and fourth among the Elis, respectively, while Shreya Ghei ’15 (+17) rounded out the first-team for the Dawgs.
After tying for fourth at last fall’s Yale Intercollegiate, the Bulldogs were able to reclaim the title on their home course.
Yale’s B team also carded an impressive score for the tournament. Led by captain Sun Park ’14, the B team finished 11th in the standings for the weekend. Bernabe said that the whole team was important to the success that the Elis had this weekend.
“Golf is very much an individual sport, but at the college level, the team aspect of the game really helps one become successful,” Bernabe said. “With junior golf, you are very much on your own, but in college, you have a wonderful group of girls to support and encourage you.”
The triumphs of the past two weekends forecast a bright future for the Elis as they seek to unseat two-time defending Ancient Eight champion Harvard and reclaim the Ivy crown for the first time since 2011. The Elis bested in-conference rivals Penn (third place) and Dartmouth (10th place) at the Yale Intercollegiate this weekend.
The weekend before, Yale finished ahead of Ivy rivals Dartmouth (third place) and Brown (tied-fourth place) at the Dartmouth Invitational.
The women’s golf team will travel down to State College, Pa. next weekend to tee off at the Nittany Lion Invitational. The Bulldogs finished ninth out of 17 teams at the same tournament last year.