Yale Athletics

The men’s golf team began its season in full swing by finishing second behind Seton Hall at the Alex Lagowitz Memorial with strong showings from new players.

Over the weekend of Sept. 29, the Bulldogs finished their first competition of the year with a total score of 853, or 11 under par, across three rounds at the Seven Oaks Golf Club in Hamilton, New York. Tying for third place on the player leaderboard, Will Lodge ’26 had the best finish for the Blue and White by hitting 211, or five under par. Six Bulldogs made the top-20 cut, including captain Sho Wai Wu ’23 and Sam Davis ’26. 

“We had a very solid team performance last weekend. We all posted some great scores each day,” Ben Carpenter ’25 said. “I specifically want to [shout out] the freshman, who put on incredible college debuts.”

Wu and Davis each tied for 11th by hitting even at 216. Davis, who debuted for the Blue and White in the competition, competed as an individual. 

Squadmates Carpenter and Blake Brantley ’25 tied for 15th with Big Red senior Josh Lundmark by hitting 217, or one over par. Gabriel Ruiz Trevino ’24 tied for 18th with a score of 218, or 2 over par, while Robert You ’25 tied for 46th hitting  224, or eight over par.

“We had a lot of guys put together really solid rounds,” Brantley said. “It definitely gave us some positive momentum going into Minnesota next week.”

The Bulldogs led the field in par fours, sinking the ball in an average of 4.08 swings. They also had the second-best par-five average at 4.72. The Blue and White hit the most pars overall with 211 scored and hit the second-highest amount of birdies with 54 throughout. 

Davis had the third-best par three average at 2.83 in the tournament while fellow first-year Lodge earned the second best par four average at 3.97.

“It was great to be back in competition,” Ruiz Trevino said. “[It was] also very exciting to see what our new team can do with our [two] freshmen having a strong start to the season.”

The Elis will head west this weekend as they will play at the Minnesota-hosted Gopher Invitational.

While the men’s squad welcomed Davis and Lodge, Ashley Yen ’26 and Mia Sessa ’26 will be debuting this weekend as the women’s golf team hosts the Yale Invitational in New Haven.

“I’m super excited about our season starting this weekend with our home tournament,” Sophie Simon ’25 wrote to the News. “We have a lot of our parents and families coming to New Haven to watch, so it should be really fun. Our team is looking really strong this year and I’m looking forward to getting back out there and competing!”

Both teams will compete at the Yale Golf Course this month.