Women Sit in 10th After First Round at Princeton

Saturday, September 28

Princeton, N.J. / Springdale GC

18 holes

Dartmouth College

Princeton Invitational

Kristen Chen watches her drive down the course.

Photo by: Bryan LaFountaine

Women Sit in 10th After First Round at Princeton

9/28/2019 4:10:00 PM | Women's Golf

Results Live Scoring

Freshman Samantha Yao is tied for fourth while playing as an individual

By: Rick Bender

PRINCETON, N.J. — The Dartmouth women's golf team combined to shoot a 306 (+18) in the first round of the Princeton Invitational, leaving the Big Green in 10th in the 13-team field. Sophomore Kristen Chen led the Dartmouth five with a 3-over 75, putting her in a tie for 25th, while freshman Samantha Yao — playing as an individual — carded a 2-under 70 to sit in a tie for fourth.

Seton Hall was the lone team to finish under par on the day with a 283 (-5), with Penn eight strokes back with a 291 and the host Tigers nine back (292).

Starting on the back nine at the Springdale Golf Club, Dartmouth began the round with two birdies and three bogeys in its group, while Yao also dropped a birdie on 10. Although Chen stumbled on 12 with a triple-bogey, she quickly recovered and sank her second birdie on 16 to reach the turn at 2-over par. On her second nine, she birdied the third hole and made par on six others to wrap up her day at 3-over par.

Like Chen, freshman Angela Zhang birdied 10 to start the round, then parred the next five holes before taking bogeys on the next five. She concluded her day with six consecutive pars, finishing a stroke behind Chen with a 76 (+4), tied for 34th.

Junior Julianne Strauch drained three birdies, and after a wild start with no pars on the first six holes, settled in over the final 12 to card a 5-over 77 to tie for 42nd. Senior Maddie Nelson sank two birdies during her round of 78 (+6), and sophomore Kaitlyn Lees rounded out the Big Green scores with a 7-over 79.

Meanwhile, Yao was enjoying a fine day, playing her first nine at even par with the birdie on 10 and a bogey on 17, then drilled four consecutive birdies on the second through fifth holes to highlight her round.

Yale's Amy Gianchandani fired a 5-under 67 to beat out a pair of Seton Hall golfers for the top spot on the leader board, and Yao is tied with Princeton's Maya Walton for fourth.

The second and final round tees off at 8:30 on Sunday morning, starting with Lees on the first hole.