Lees’ 1-under 71 Lifts Big Green to Fifth at Home Invitational

Sunday, September 15

Hanover, N.H.

18 holes

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth Invitational

Sophomore Kaitlyn Lees

Photo by: Bryan LaFountaine

Lees’ 1-under 71 Lifts Big Green to Fifth at Home Invitational

9/15/2019 3:46:00 PM | Women's Golf

Results Photos by Bryan LaFountaine

Dartmouth improved by 16 strokes from the first round

By: Rick Bender

HANOVER, N.H. — Sophomore Kaitlyn Lees fired a 1-under 71 in the second and final round of the season-opening Dartmouth Invitational on Sunday, helping the Big Green climb up two spots on the leader board into fifth place with their best round on their home course of Hanover Country Club. With better weather came better play as Dartmouth saw improvement from each one of its five players to shave 16 strokes off from yesterday's round, leaving the team with a 308-292—600 (+24).

Harvard took home the team title by shooting ever par over the two rounds, including an 8-under 280 on the 5,872-yard, par-72 course, while Stetson edged out Yale by three strokes to take second at 14-over par with Columbia in fourth (+18). In all, 11 of the 13 teams bested their first-round score.

Lees, a first-team All-Ivy Leage performer last spring as a freshman, bested her score from Saturday to move up five spots on the leaderboard into a tie for 11th with a 3-over 147. Freshman Angela Zhang dropped four strokes today to card a 1-over 73 and finish the tournament in a tie for 20th with a 150 (+6) with junior Julianne Strauch, who shot a 76-74—150.

The biggest improvement, however, was by another freshman, Samantha Yao, as she dropped six strokes to end the tournament tied for 31st with an 80-74—154 (+10), while senior Maddie Nelson completed the group with a 157 (+13) in a tie for 36th.

Dartmouth also had a trio of players competing as individuals with sophomore Kristen Chen recording the best score with a 77-75—152 (+8) to tie for 26th. Senior Kristen Soh tied with Yao in 31st and senior Bethany Burns improved by six strokes today to tie for 66th.

Harvard not only won the team title, but had the medalist as well in Chloe Royston, who finished up at 8-under par. She began the day three strokes behind Yale's Ami Gianchandani but proceeded to drop a 6-under 66 to win the event by five strokes.

The Big Green will be back in action in two weeks when they compete at the Princeton Invitational on Sept. 28-29.