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In its second game of the spring season, the Yale women’s golf team earned a decisive win ahead of its Ivy League competitors.

On Saturday, Feb. 26, the Yale women’s golf team hosted Columbia and Dartmouth at the Ford Field & River Club in Richmond Hill, Georgia for two rounds of play. The Bulldogs won the Ford Invitational with a score of 585 — or nine over par — and dominated the top five spots on the leaderboard. Columbia came in second with a score of 607, or 31 over par, and Dartmouth followed with 62 over par for a score of 638. 

“This tournament was so much fun to play and a great experience for everyone on our team,” captain Ami Gianchandani ’23 said. “The [five] of us took the top [five] spots in the event which will give us the needed push to continue playing a strong season.”

Gianchandani earned a first place finish with an even parscore of 144. Bulldog Ashley Au ’24 tied with teammate Coco Chai ’23 for second place as both finished with a score of 147. Au shot a score of 73 and 74 over the two rounds while Chai finished with 72 and 75. Behind Au and Chai, with scores of 148 and 149 for fourth and fifth-place were Bulldogs Lexi Kim ’25 and Kaitlyn Lee ’23, respectively. 

The event began bright and early at 8 a.m. on Saturday with five groups of play for the first round. The second round began at 12:30 p.m. According to a Yale Athletics press release, Monmouth intended to participate in the invitational, but withdrew shortly before the event, eliminating the only non-Ancient Eight team participating. 

“Our team had a lot of fun this weekend,” Lee said. “Everyone played really well and I’m excited to see what we got in store for the rest of the season. It was super exciting to get this win and I think it was a great reflection of the hard work we put into this winter. We just gotta keep this momentum going into the rest of the spring season.”

According to a February 22 Golfstat report, Yale ranked 98th in NCAA Division I women’s golf while Columbia and Dartmouth ranked at 132 and 170, respectively. Only Princeton leads Yale in women’s Ancient Eight golf competition by ranking 95th.

Columbia had previously hosted the Bulldogs at the Columbia Classic in Melbourne, Florida on Monday, Feb. 14. While the Blue and White came in ninth overall, they led the Ancient Eight members present that weekend. The Bulldogs will finish the spring season with another Ivy League competition during the weekend of April 22 at the Ivy League Championship in Ringoes, New Jersey. 

“I am definitely looking forward to the Ivy League championships at the end of the year, it is the most prestigious and well run tournament by far for the league,” rookie Daphne Chao ’25 told the News before the spring season began.

Neither Cornell nor Brown field a women’s golf team.