Bad weather plagues women's golf at Princeton Invitational

While it has been said that the early bird catches the worm, during a weekend punctuated by enough rain to drown even the most aquatically inclined soil-dwellers, those teams with the earliest tee times this weekend at the Princeton Invitational did not get the birdies.

The women's golf team placed second with a two-round total of 635, but fell by four strokes to chief Ivy League rival Yale this weekend, despite a strong team showing on day two, and an individual second place finish by sophomore Esty Dwek.

The large field of 20 schools competing at the Princeton Invitational meant that the earliest teams teed off at 7:45 a.m., while others were finishing up as the sun was setting. Varying weather conditions forced a much greater value upon randomly assigned tee times than is usually the case in large tournaments.

When the first Princeton player took to the course at 9:10 a.m. on Saturday, central Jersey was engulfed by torrential rain and heavy winds. By pure chance, Yale did not begin its first round until much later in the morning, at which point the rain and wind had subsided. Aside from the discomfort and distraction engendered by playing in heavy precipitation, the course layout at Springdale compounded the effects of the bad weather.

A defining feature of Springdale Golf Course is its small greens, which means, even in good conditions, "you must be precise, there is little room for error," according to Dwek.

Hitting the smaller target in bad conditions, particularly wind, is a difficult task.

"When there's lots of wind, it gets really difficult to control the ball and find the green — that's when the Springdale course gets hard," Dwek said.

Princeton finished day one with a combined score of 322, which was good enough to tie the College of William and Mary, but not enough to beat Yale's 314.

Fortunately for Princeton, all teams experienced analogously crisp and still weather conditions on Sunday to close out the tournament. Princeton shot 317, while Yale slipped to 321. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the gap of eight strokes incurred on Saturday was too formidable to close, and Yale was able to repeat as team champions of the Invitational.

Princeton was led by the exceptional play of Dwek, who shot nine-over-par 153 to finish two shots behind Yale's Anna Jepson for first-place honors. The two-shot gap was residual from day one, as both Dwek and Jepson carded 74 Sunday. Freshman Avery Kiser, coming off a team leading effort last weekend at Penn State, placed fifth overall with a score of 157.

Fellow freshman Meg Nakamura shot 163, good for 14th place. Junior Vanessa Redman and freshman Taryn Haladay rounded out the Princeton effort, shooting 167 and 169 to finish 17th and 22nd, respectively.

Statistical comparisons to last week's effort at Penn State are difficult.

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"It is a totally different game when the conditions change," Dwek said.

Adding experience in different game situations, however, can only be a boon to the young Princeton team, particularly for freshmen Kiser, Nakamura and Haladay, who are still adjusting to the intensity of collegiate golf.

"Each tournament is a building block," head coach Eric Stein said.