Women Post Best Finish at Ivy Championship Ever

Sunday, April 21

Ringoes, N.J. (The Ridge at Back Brook)

All Day

Dartmouth College

Third Round Ivy

Kaitlyn Lees receives her third-place medal from Ivy League Commissioner Robin Harris.

Photo by: The Ivy League

Women Post Best Finish at Ivy Championship Ever

4/21/2019 4:20:00 PM | Women's Golf

Final Results Photo Gallery

The Big Green finished second overall while Kaitlyn Lees placed third

By: Rick Bender

RINGOES, N.J. — The Dartmouth women's golf team enjoyed its finest finish ever at the Ivy League Championship, placing second with a 907 (+43), just six strokes behind the champion, Harvard. Freshman Kaitlyn Lees did not show any rookie jitters during the three rounds at The Ridge at Back Brook, claiming third with a 5-over 221, three strokes behind the medalist, Elizabeth Wang of the Crimson.

The 907 is also Dartmouth's best three-round score ever at the Ivy League Championship, besting last year's 935 when the Big Green finished fifth. The Big Green's highest finish had been third, accomplished four times previously, the last coming in 2004 when the league first expanded to seven teams.

Lees was the most consistent golfer in the field, recording 43 pars in her 54 holes on the 6,042-yard, par-72 course. She entered the final round in second place, one stroke behind another freshman, Columbia's Jennifer Wang, and although she bogeyed the first hole, she got right back to her steady play with 13 pars on the next 14 holes with a birdie on the 490-yar, par-5 fifth. Only a bogey on 16 marred the rest of her round, leaving her with a 1-over 73 and a 74-74-73—221 for the tournament.

Wang also carded a 73 in the final round, thanks to a birdie on 18, to maintain her one-stroke lead on Lees. But Elizabeth Wang put together a near-perfect 69 (-3) with four birdies and a bogey to win the individual title with a 218 (+2).

While Lees was earning a spot on the All-Ivy League first team, junior Maddie Nelson moved into the top 10 to secure a spot on the second team. After carding a 77 (+5) in each of the first two rounds, she was tied for 11th on the leaderboard. She got off to a fast start with birdies on three of the first six holes before a double bogey on seven dropped her back to even on the day. She added another birdie on the 463-yard, par-5 11th before ending her day with a solid 2-over 74 to close the three days with a 228 (+12), tying her for eighth.

Sophomore Moon Cheong missed a spot in the top 10 by a single stroke, recording 14 pars and four bogeys in her round to end the championship with a 76-78-76—230 (+14), good for a tie for 13th.

Enjoying her finest round of the three days was freshman Kristen Chen, who sank 13 pars and a birdie while scoring a 3-over 75. She final score of 80-81-75—236 (+20) left her tied for 24th with her teammate, senior captain Catharine Roddy who carded an 8-over 80 in the final round.

Dartmouth held a six-stroke edge on Columbia (913, +49) for second place, followed by Princeton in fourth (+53), first-day leader Penn (+55), Yale (+71) and Brown (+82).

Notes: Nelson was not on the original roster for the championship but ended up going after a teammate fell ill … she also tied for the most birdies in the tournament with nine … only four teams broke 300 in any round during the championship — Harvard (290) and Dartmouth (298) today, and Penn (297) and Columbia (298) on the first day … Lees matched Roddy for the highest-ever finish at an Ivy League Championship by a Big Green golfer; Roddy tied for third as a sophomore in 2017 … this is the second straight year the Big Green have had two players earn All-Ivy League honors and just the third time ever (also in 1997) … Lees is the fourth Dartmouth golfer to make the first team, joining Roddy, Samantha Sommers '99 and Laura Epstein '00 (three times).