muscosportsphoto.com

On Monday and Tuesday, both the Yale men’s and women’s golf teams faced off against other schools on the greens, with the women’s’ team placing 10th out of 12 in the Ivy Intercollegiate and the men’s’ team placing fourth out of 12 in the Georgetown Intercollegiate. 

This year’s Ivy Intercollegiate was hosted at the Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey, which has hosted two PGA tournaments. The intercollegiate featured all six Ivy League golf programs, as well as six from the Atlantic Coast Conference for a total of 12 teams. The men’s team played the Georgetown Intercollegiate in Jersey City, New Jersey, and featured Duke University, Princeton University, Columbia University and Boston College, among other teams. 

“I think the team struggled a bit on the first day,” Ami Gianchandani ’23 said. “The rain we got this week prevented us from actually using the practice facilities and the greens at Baltusrol are significantly faster than the greens at Yale right now.” 

Gianchandani was Yale’s highest finisher and tied for 17th overall. The Bulldogs finished ahead of 11th-place University of Pennsylvania and 12th-place Dartmouth. However, the squad was still below all the Atlantic Coast Conference teams that played the tournament. 

“The course was very tough and we played against great competition,” Alexis Kim ’25 said. “Although we definitely feel that we left some shots out there, we really enjoyed the experience at this championship course.” 

The Ivy Intercollegiate is one of a few instances where Ancient Eight teams compete against non-league programs. 

The first day of the competition was centered around 36-hole stroke play that determined seeding whereas the second day was match play. Match play differs from traditional stroke play as golfers win by having the least strokes on each individual hole as opposed to having the least strokes overall. 

The Bulldogs were still able to secure strong wins on the second day, with Kim coming out two ahead of North Carolina State University’s Vania Simon while squadmate Kaitlyn Lee ’23 beat Clemson University’s Melena Barrientos four-up. 

“I think we showed that, even on a bad day, we can still hang in there,” Gianchandani said. 

The men’s team finished fourth out of 12 teams, finishing ahead of Columbia and Princeton and only finishing behind champion Duke, Boston College and Penn State. Highlights from the match included a three-way tie for seventh place for Blake Brantley ’25 and a two-way tie for 11th place for Gabriel Ruiz ’24. 

Brantley ended the competition with an even score at 216. 

“Personally, I was happy with how I played,” Ben Carpenter ’25 said. “There is always room for improvement, but I put together many solid rounds.” 

Carpenter finished tied for 23rd with a score of 223, or seven above par while classmate Robert You ’25 tied for 11th with a score of 222, or six over par. The Bulldogs had the second-best par-5 average of any team with a statistic of 4.68, finishing behind only winners Duke in this category.

Brantley, Carpenter and You earned the second, fourth and fifth highest par-5 averages with a range of 4.42 to 4.58. 

“We were all happy with our team performance at the tournament, and hopefully we keep the ball rolling when February comes around,” said Carpenter. 

Both of Yale’s golf teams are rounding out their respective fall seasons. The women’s team will compete in their last tournament from Oct. 17 through 19 at the Southern in Savannah, GA. The Georgetown Intercollegiate was the last competition for the men’s fall season. 

Both teams will play a spring season that will begin next semester.