Fall Season Begins with Home Invitational at HCC

HANOVER, N.H. — Returning to the links after boasting its best-ever finish in second place at the Ivy League Championship last spring, the Dartmouth women's golf team will open the 2019-20 season by hosting an invitational at the Hanover Country Club this weekend. The Big Green will welcome a field of 11 other teams for the two-day tournament, including four other Ivy League squads.

Along with Brown, Columbia, Harvard and Yale, the invitational will feature the defending champion Albany Great Danes as well as Boston University, Hartford, Merrimack, Quinnipiac, Siena and Stetson. Yale sophomore Ami Gianchandani, last year's medalist winner and the 2019 Ivy League Player and Rookie of the Year, will also be back to defend her title.

Alex Kirk, the Carolyn A. Pelzel '54a Head Coach and the 2019 Ivy League Women's Golf Coach of the Year, has senior captain Bethany Burns to provide leadership and a pair of All-Ivy League performers returning in sophomore Kaitlyn Lees (first team) and senior Maddie Nelson (second team). Lees led the Big Green in stroke average as a freshman (76.3) and placed third at the Ivy League Championship, tying her for the best finish by a Dartmouth golfer at the event ever. Nelson, meanwhile, missed the fall season but managed to shake off the rust at the Ivy Championship and tie for eighth.

This fall, the Green will be without the services of junior Moon Cheong who posted the second-lowest stroke average last year (77.05) as she is studying abroad in Hong Kong. But Dartmouth also features a pair of freshmen, who Kirk has high hopes for, that will compete for the team in their collegiate debut — Samantha Yao and Angela Zhang. Last year, Lees had a fine showing in this event in her debut, leading the Big Green with a ninth-place finish as the team placed third overall in a 14-team field.

The fifth spot in the lineup will be hotly contested all year, but junior Julianne Strauch gets the nod for the opening weekend. Playing as individuals will be Burns, senior Kristen Soh and sophomore Kristen Chen, the last two of whom posted nearly identical stroke averages a year ago around 78.7.

The two-round tournament will begin on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. with the last group teeing off at 12:30 p.m. The second and final round on Sunday will feature a shotgun start beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Schedules