GOLF: Men’s Take First at Home, Women’s Take Fourth Away
The Bulldogs’ strong showing continued as men’s golf finished first at the Yale-hosted Macdonald Cup while the women’s team finished fourth at the Princeton Invite.
Musco Sports Photos
The Yale men’s and women’s golf teams maintained solid starts to their seasons over the weekend as the men’s team won the Macdonald Cup and the women’s team finished fourth at the Princeton Invite.
The men’s team faced off against 13 other teams — including five other Ivy League squads — in Yale’s historic home tournament, the Macdonald Cup. The Elis finished first with a cumulative score of six over par at the Yale Golf Course, four strokes ahead of second-place Michigan. The win at home was the second victory of the season for the Blue and White, who started off their season with a win at the Alex Lagowitz Memorial Invitational.
“The win this weekend definitely felt good,” men’s captain Teddy Zinsner ’22 said. “We had a really good couple weeks of practice following [the Doc Gimmler Invitational] and everyone really wanted to win this one at home. It was nice to be able to get that done in a tight match.”
Zinsner finished tied for sixth with teammate Gabriel Ruiz Trevino ’24 as both Elis finished with a score of 211. Kevin Wu ’23 also finished within the top 20 with a score of seven over par for a total of 217 to tie with three other players for 14th place.
The Bulldogs placed first among the field in par-3 average (3.17) and rookie Blake Brantley ’25 was the best individual in par-5 average across all three rounds (4.33). Brantley was also Yale’s best performer this weekend, despite not being selected for the Bulldog starting squad. He finished fourth overall and shot two under par for 208.
“It was definitely a really fun first Macdonald Cup,” Brantley said. “Anytime you get to go head to head with a Power Five school like Michigan is incredible, and to come out on top in our home event made it even more special.”
In the first round, Yale’s team was able to create a solid lead of 10 strokes over Michigan. However, in the second round, the Wolverines closed in on the Elis and cut the lead to four strokes. On Sunday, both teams posted a cumulative score of 290 in the third round — meaning that Yale’s first-round dominance was key in securing the tournament win.
Concurrently, the women’s team continued an impressive start to their season as they faced a dozen other teams at the Princeton Invite in New Jersey. The Bulldogs clinched fourth place with a finish of 21 over par for an overall total score of 885, just six shots behind second-place Columbia.
“Having back to back events was a little tough to manage, so we didn’t play our best at Princeton,” junior captain Ami Gianchandani ’23 said. “But we have a lot of positive takeaways, like finishing in the top five and putting up good overall team scores.”
The Princeton Invite took place only four days after the women’s team won the Boston College Intercollegiate, in which Gianchandani earned individual honors.
At the tournament, Princeton, Columbia and Seton Hall finished above Yale. Kaitlyn Lee ’23 tied for 11th place with a score of five shots over par. Lee made 13 birdies this weekend, the second-most in the entire competition. The Bulldogs’ fourth-place finish placed them above three out of the five participating Ivy League teams.
Coco Chai ’23 also had a successful weekend at the Princeton Invitational. She posted Yale’s best individual score, finishing the tournament tied for eighth with a total score of 218. Chai also finished in fourth place in terms of par-3 average (2.83). As a team, Yale led the field in both par-3 (3.12) and par-5 (4.82) averages.
The women’s team will finish the fall at the St. John’s Invitational taking place Monday, Oct. 25 to Tuesday, Oct. 26 in New York. The men’s team have two competitions left in their season, including the Maidstone Intercollegiate in New York, which will be held Monday, Oct. 4 to Tuesday, Oct. 5.
