Big Green Ready for Ivy League Women’s Golf Championship

PURCHASE, N.Y. — The Dartmouth Big Green women's golf team is excited for this weekend's Ivy League Championship that begins on Friday at the Century Club in Purchase, New York, following a record-setting season that included three tournament victories, the most in program history.

Alex Kirk, the Carolyn A. Pelzel '54a Head Coach of Women's Golf, is taking at least one player from every class — senior co-captain Samantha Yao, junior co-captain Katherine Sung, sophomore Claire Xu, and freshmen Sophie Thai and Kim Shen. This quintet was responsible for bringing home the trophy from the Navy Invitational this past weekend, defeating second-place Yale by 19 strokes.

Sung has been the Big Green's top player this year with a stroke average (73.68) that is more than 1.5 strokes better than her record-setting total from a year ago. The 2022 All-Ivy League Second Team member has five top-15 finishes (three in the top 10) this year, finishing second at both the Poppy Hills Patriot Invitational last month and the Navy Invitational last week. Every one of her 37.5 rounds over the past two years have counted toward the team score.

The number-two player for Dartmouth is the rookie Thai, who also has bested Sung's stroke average from last year at 74.21. She leads the team with six rounds under par — the most for any Big Green women's golfer in a single season — with a low of 69 (-3) three times, matching the program record in relation to par set by Yao last year. Thai also owns the lone medalist honors for Dartmouth this year, winning the Lady Blue Hen Invitational last fall while setting a program record for lowest score in a three-round tournament (6-under), and has finished in the top five in each of the last three tournaments.

Shen has been a consistent performer as a freshman with a stroke average of 76.00 this year and a trio of top-10 finishes. Twice she has tied for sixth (Poppy Hills and Navy) with all but three of her 14.5 rounds counting toward the team total, and she produced her low round of the season at Poppy Hills with a 2-under 70.

Yao is the lone senior on the squad and is right behind Shen in stroke average at 76.06. She has come on strong over the past month with a pair of top-10 finishes, including placing fifth last weekend with a 4-over 148 while leading the 43-player field with 28 pars to her credit. Her career stroke average of 75.96 over 44.5 rounds is more than 2.5 strokes better than any Big Green golfer before her.

Closing out the group of five Dartmouth golfers is Xu, who has come on strong over the past month by finishing fifth out of 79 at Poppy Hills and tying for sixth last week at the Navy Invitational (while playing both as an individual), lowering her stroke average to 76.61. Last month, she became the first player in program history to shoot a 68 in a round, tying Yao and Thai for best single round in relation to par at 3-under.

The tournament that includes Columbia, Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale begins Friday morning at 9 a.m. Live scoring will be available through the Golfstat website.

Schedules