Best Round for Big Green Lift Them to Third at Ivy Championship

Sunday, April 23

Purchase, N.Y./ Century Club

10:00 AM

Dartmouth College

Ivy League Championship

Samantha Yao watches her shot at the Ivy League Women's Golf Championship, April 21, 2023

Senior Samantha Yao tied for fourth overall to lead the Big Green

Photo by: Brian Foley

Best Round for Big Green Lift Them to Third at Ivy Championship

4/23/2023 7:13:00 PM | Women's Golf

Final Results (PDF)Hole-by-Hole Scoring

Dartmouth puts four in top 10 led by Samantha Yao tied for fourth

By: Rick Bender

PURCHASE, N.Y. — After waiting out the morning rain, the Dartmouth women's golf team produced its best round of the Ivy League Championship, carding a 303 (+15) that matched Penn for the lowest of he day. The strong finish allowed the Big Green to claim third at 52-over par (916), 10 strokes behind the Quakers, which took the title, and six behind Harvard.

Senior Samantha Yao tied with three others for the low round with a one-over 73 as she closed out the tournament at 9-over par, tying for fourth place. Three other Dartmouth golfers also finished in the top 10 with freshman Sophie Thai in ninth at 15-over while both junior Katherine Sung and sophomore Claire Xu tied for 10th one stroke behind Thai. Freshman Kim Shen contributed to the team score in today's round with a 6-over 78 while tying for 19th overall at 19-over.

Dartmouth was scheduled to tee off at 8 a.m., but the rain that descended on the 6,086-yard, par-72 Century Club late yesterday afternoon had still not blown out of the area, delaying play by two hours. Raindrops were still falling when the action teed off, leaving the Big Green as well as Yale and Columbia to fight through the drizzle on the front nine.

Yao seemed not to notice the extra moisture, making par on seven of the first nine holes while sinking a birdie on the 318-yard par-4 third. She reached the turn at 1-over, then proceeded to par seven holes on the back nine as well with another birdie to her credit, this time on the 385-yard par-4 14th. Only a bogey on 16 marred the final holes as she entered the clubhouse with her 73 (+1), leaving her 9-over (225) for the championship.

The first two holes were not as kind to Thai, who stumbled with double bogeys on each before collecting herself with a par, birdie and eagle — her second of the championship — on the next three holes. Another birdie on a 125-yard par-3 seventh brought her back to even, where she stood at the turn. Although she added one more birdie on the back nine, she found some trouble along the way and closed out the day with a 4-over 76, good enough to keep her in the top 10 with a 231 (+15).

Xu matched Thai's 76 in somewhat similar fashion, taking a double bogey on the opening hole but rebounding with consecutive birdies on the fourth and fifth holes to sit at even par after the front nine. The final nine holes featured five pars and four bogeys, leaving her one stroke behind her younger teammate in a tie for 10th at 16-over, climbing eight spots in the standings.

Shen was working on a very promising round, sitting at 2-over through 15 thanks to a pair of birdies. Disaster struck on 16, however, leading to her closing her round at 6-over with a 78.

The round was a battle all day for Sung, who managed to make par on 11 holes while carding an 8-over 80, dropping back from sixth to 10th on the leaderboard at 16-over.

"I am really proud of this team," said Alex Kirk, the Carolyn A. Pelzel '54a Head Coach of Women's Golf. "None of the five ever quit out there, fighting through some rain early and battling all the way through the final hole. Each of the last two rounds we had the lowest score, which just shows how close we are to winning the title for ourselves. We are within striking distance of that goal in the coming years."

Harvard's Isabella Gomez took home medalist honors, beating out Princeton's Catherine Rao by four strokes at 3-over par (219). Her 70 (-2) in the opening round was the lowest score throughout the championship and helped carry her to victory.

Notes: Dartmouth, which has never won the Ivy League Championship, matched its finish last year at 10 strokes behind the leader, though that was only good for fourth place in 2022 … the only closer finish for the Big Green came in 2019 when they placed second, six strokes off the pace … the top 10 was a bit crowded this year with eight players tying for 10th.