Dartmouth in Fifth After First Round of Ivy Women’s Golf Championship

Friday, April 21

Purchase, N.Y./ Century Club

9:00 AM

Dartmouth College

Ivy League Championship

Senior Samantha Yao

Photo by: Brian Foley

Dartmouth in Fifth After First Round of Ivy Women’s Golf Championship

4/21/2023 4:26:00 PM | Women's Golf

Results (PDF)Photo Gallery

Samantha Yao and Sophie Thai paced the Big Green at 3-over par

By: Rick Bender

PURCHASE, N.Y. — The Ivy League Women's Golf Championship opened today with the first of three rounds at the Century Club, and Dartmouth struggled on the back nine to end the first 18 holes in fifth place with a 17-over 307 as a team. Senior Samantha Yao and freshman Sophie Thai paced the Big Green as each carded a 75 (+3).

Penn finished the round with a one-stroke lead over Princeton — Dartmouth's playing partners — at 8-over par (296), though Harvard's Isabella Gomez entered the clubhouse with a two-stroke lead among the 30-player field with a 2-under 70 on the par-72, 6,086-yard course.

"This is a very tight, competitive field," said Alex Kirk, the Carolyn A. Pelzel '54a Head Coach of Women's Golf. "Anyone can beat anyone in the league on any given day. That being said, we need to learn from our mistakes today. Putting is the key to this course. We caught a few bad breaks today, and I expect us to improve tomorrow. We don't need to catch the leaders tomorrow, just need to close the gap to put us in position to challenge on Sunday."

Dartmouth was in good shape early with junior Katherine Sung at even par through eight holes, freshman Kim Shen even through nine and senior Samantha Yao 1-over at the turn as well. That trio had five of the team's seven birdies over the first six holes — four of which came on the 446-yard, par-5 fifth — helping the Big Green jump out to an early lead.

But the seventh through 10th holes proved quite difficult as the team posted seven bogeys and three double bogeys. Yao and freshman Sophie Thai were able to birdie 11 to try and get Dartmouth back on track, but the next three holes were played at a combined 8-over par.

Thai provided the highlight of the day, turning around a tough round with her first career eagle on the 496-yard, par-5 15th, while Shen and sophomore Claire Xu sank birdies there as well. Thai was able to par the final three holes and concluded the day tied for sixth place with Yao.

Shen, who reached the turn at even par, struggled on the back nine and tied for 19th with a 6-over 78. Sung found trouble in the middle of her round, matching Xu with a 79 (+7) to tie for 23rd.

The second round will begin tomorrow at 11 a.m. The Big Green will playing with Columbia (+26) and Yale (+18).

Notes: Dartmouth sank 11 birdies in the opening round, tied with Penn for the most on the day … the Big Green had not shot as high as 19-over par in a round since the Columbia Classic in mid-February.