WOMEN’S GOLF: Bulldogs gear up for home tournament
After a win and a fourth-place finish away, Yale Women’s Golf will play its next event in New Haven.
Yale Athletics
After placing fourth at the Princeton Invite in New Jersey, the Yale women’s golf team will play its first home event this weekend.
The Bulldogs will play the Yale Invitational at the Yale Golf Course over three rounds of play held from Saturday, Oct. 9 to Sunday, Oct. 10. The tournament will host a number of teams including Harvard, Dartmouth and Columbia. In 2019, the last year the tournament was played, Yale placed third behind the University of Stirling and the winning team — Charlotte.
“We’re so excited to be hosting back home at Yale this weekend,” head coach Lauren Harling told the News. “We have established some great momentum with a win out of the gate at Boston College and after a few weeks of rest, we’re ready to compete at home!”
The Bulldogs began their season on Sept. 20 by placing first out of 15 teams at the two-day Boston College Intercollegiate. Junior captain Ami Gianchandani ’23 earned individual honors at the competition and the team led the tournament in birdies, eagles, par-four and par-five averages.
That same week, the Elis traveled south to New Jersey to compete in the Princeton Invite, where they placed fourth out of 13 competing teams. The team led the tournament in par-three and par-five averages while Coco Chai ’23 placed eighth overall.
“[We] are definitely excited to see what we can do out there,” captain Gianchandani said. “Our course is one that needs to be played multiple times before really being able to play it well – which everyone on our team has been able to do so far.”
The Yale Invitational did not occur in the 2020-21 athletic season due to Ivy League restrictions regarding COVID-19. However, in its most recent iteration in 2019, Gianchandani placed first overall with seven strokes under par and led the field in par-four scoring, averaging 3.88 points. Returning player Chai had a strong showing tying for 28th with a score of 11 over par.
The Yale Golf Course was recently ranked 46th among the nation’s best public golf courses by Golf Digest. The 700-acre course, which opened in 1926, will undergo a redesign led by Gil Hanse and recently hosted the men’s Macdonald Cup tournament, which was won by Yale’s team.
This tournament will be the home debut for three Elis: Alexis Kim ’25, Sophie Simon ’25 and Daphne Chao ’25.
“I’m beyond excited for this weekend especially because it will be my first home tournament. The Course at Yale is truly one of a kind and it’s in great shape for the coming weekend,” Kim said. “We are ready to bring our best and to compete.”
The Bulldogs will travel for their last fall competition to the St. John’s Invitational in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York from Monday, Oct. 25 to Tuesday, Oct 26.
