KINGSTON, N.Y. — The Dartmouth men's golf team put together two strong rounds on Monday at the Columbia Autumn Invitational, finishing the two-round tournament in second place with a 288-292—580 (+4).
Jason Liu and
Mark Turner both finished in the top 10 to lead the Big Green to their highest team finish in three years.
Harvard took the team title with an 18-under 558 as three of its golfers ended the day in the top five, including medalist Kevin Sze at 9-under par (135). Dartmouth made up seven strokes from the first round to the second to surpass host Columbia by a single stroke, while Lehigh took fourth and Cornell claimed fifth.
Liu, a graduate student and three-time captain, carded a 1-under 71 on his first tour of the 6,685-yard, par-72 course at Wiltwyck Golf Club, then closed out with a 72 (E) to his ledger, tying for seventh in the 64-player field with a 1-under 143. His first round consisted of 10 pars, three birdies and an eagle on the par-5 17th hole. For the second 18, he started with a pair of birdies and added three more to go with nine pars.
Turner played right with Liu all day, even matching his eagle on 17 during the afternoon, playing both rounds at even par to card a 144 and tie for ninth overall. The senior's two rounds featured that eagle along with seven birdies to go with 20 pars.
Just one stroke behind Turner was sophomore
Alex Gu with a 72-73—145 (+1), good enough for a tie for 15th place. After dropping four birdies and 10 pars in the opening round, Gu came back with five more birdies — including four in a row — during the second round.
Junior
Eli Thrasher added a 1-over 73 to the team score during the first 18 holes, collecting four birdies along the way, while he and senior
Charles Petrie each shot a 3-over 75 for the second tour. Over the 36 holes, Thrasher finished up at 4-over par to tie for 26th, and Petrie tied for 35th with a 6-over 150.
Playing as an individual was freshman
Charlie Baker, who had single birdies in each of his rounds of 78 to close out at 12-over par (156), tied for 49th.
With today's tournament, Dartmouth has concluded its fall season. The team will return to action in the spring.