GOLF: Men finish 11th in River Run Collegiate, Women take fifth at Nittany Lion Invitational
The women’s squad places in the top five, while the men take 11th in North Carolina
Yale Athletics
This past week, both the Yale men’s and women’s golf teams took part in their second fall season tournament. The men’s squad went to Davidson, North Carolina, where they came home with an 11th-place finish. The women’s squad traveled to State College, Pennsylvania, at the Nittany Lion Invitational, placing fifth out of 14 teams.
The men’s team traveled to Davidson College to participate in the 11-team River Run Collegiate tournament. Due to heavy rain in the area, the tournament was shortened to 36 holes instead of the scheduled 54 in an attempt to maintain playable tournament conditions.
The Bulldogs fired a 16-over-par 304 the first day, led by Ben Carpenter ’25 and Robert You ’25, who carded a one-over 73 and two-over 74, respectively. Sam Davis ’26 came in with a six-over round of 78, and both Blake Brantley ’25 and Matthew Lin ’28 rounded out the scoring by posting two seven-over 79s.
The next day the men’s squad battled challenging weather conditions once again, finishing with an 18-over-par team score of 306.
This time, Lin led the way with a round of 74, which catapulted him up the individual leaderboard by nearly 20 spots, finishing in 36th place in the tournament. Davis also improved on his shooting from the previous day, carding a 76 and finishing 41st individually.
Carpenter slowed down a bit from the previous day, but still finished with a 77, leaving him as the highest Bulldog finisher with a 24th-place finish individually. You rounded out the team scoring with a 79, tying Lin for 36th in the individual portion of the tournament. Brantley posted a second-round 82, landing him in 59th place.
Davidson, the tournament host, finished first in the team category with a two-round score of 581, beating second-place Delaware by 11 shots. Yale finished 18 shots back of second, with a two-round score of 610, landing in 10th out of 11 teams for the tournament.
On the women’s side, the Bulldogs traveled to Big Ten country to play in the two-day Nittany Lion Invitational, hosted by Penn State. Among the 14 teams competing were Ivy League rivals Princeton, Harvard and Columbia, as well as opponents from the Atlantic 10 Conference, MAC and Big East.
The women’s squad got off to a solid start on day one, posting a 10-over-par team score of 298, sitting them in a tie for fifth. Yale was led by Mia Sessa ’26, who fired a sizzling one-under-71 to get the scoring started. Alexis Kim ’25 followed that up with a two-over-74. Selena Tang ’27 came in with a four-over-74, Joanne Lee ’26 carded a 77, and Ashley Yen ’26 finished at 79 for the day. Competing as an individual, Ellie Koo ’28 shot a solid 75.
In the second round, the Bulldogs took a step back, posting a 13-over-par team score of 301. This dropped them into eighth place after two days of competition. Sessa followed up her impressive round with a cool 73 and sat at even par through two days.
Tang improved on her previous round and posted a 74, jumping her up the individual leaderboard. Yen cut three strokes off her round one score and carded a 76, and Lee and Kim finished with a pair of 78s. Koo, again competing individually, fired a 74 and hovered around the top 15 going into day three.
In the final round, the Bulldogs were yet again led by Sessa, who came in with an even-par 72, finishing the tournament in a tie for third. Lee lit the course up on day three, posting a 73 and improving on her previous rounds by four shots which landed her 31st place. Tang carded a final round 75, which left her just outside the top 20, finishing in 21st place. Kim rounded out the team scoring with a 77 and finished in 35th place for the tournament. Yen shot 80, landing her in 62nd place, and Koo came in with an 81, finishing in 43rd place.
The women’s team bounced back to post a final-round team score of 297, their best of the tournament. This vaulted them up the team leaderboard, where they finished in fifth, just four shots behind the podium.
Princeton fired a team score of 10-over, Harvard shot 25-over, Jax State finished at 28-over and Penn State at 31-over. Yale edged out Delaware for the solo fifth spot, winning a cardback to the hardest handicapped hole. The Bulldogs defeated fellow Ivy squad Columbia by eight strokes, where the Lions finished in eighth for the tournament.
Both squads have time off before they get back into action at the end of the month, with the men playing in the Sacred Heart Fall Classic on Sept. 30 and the women taking on an Ivy foe when they travel to the Princeton Invitational on Sept 28.