Two Penn golfers tied for second overall at the Ivy League Championships. BETHPAGE, N.Y. -- The 1999 edition of the Ivy League golf championships was not without drama. While defending champion Penn -- which did manage to place two on the first-team All-Ivy squad -- finished in third place, nine strokes behind the eventual champions, the finale came down to the last putt on the 18th hole. With Yale and Columbia duking it out for the title, Columbia was faced with a putt to tie the Elis with a combined 54-hole total of 42 over par. However, the tiebreaker of the fifth golfer's score meant that a successful Lions putt would give Columbia the title. The Lions' Omer Salamat drained the 12-foot putt and for the second year in a row a team other than Yale or Princeton -- which dominated the Ivies by combining to win every Ivy title between 1984 and 1997 -- left Bethpage Golf Club victorious. While Yale finished a close second to Columbia, Penn still fared well, posting scores of 296, 295 and 300, leaving the Quakers at 51 over par and six strokes ahead of fourth-place Princeton. Trailing Princeton in fifth was Dartmouth, which finished 21 strokes behind Columbia and Harvard in sixth, 24 strokes behind the leaders. Rounding out the pack were Brown and Cornell, which finished 43 and 45 strokes, respectively, behind Columbia and Yale. While Yale's Chris Eckerle took home medalist honors, shooting rounds of 70, 74 and 73, only seven over par, the highlight of the event for Penn was that both junior Rob Goldfaden and sophomore Kyle Moran made the All-Ivy first-team, which is composed of just the top seven finishers. The Quaker teammates tied for second place. Moran posted rounds of 72, 73 and 74, while Goldfaden shot scores of 73, 70 and 76. Goldfaden's Friday afternoon score of 70 was most impressive as it was one of only three rounds out of a total of 120 scores to be played at even par throughout a tournament marred by very difficult conditions. Following Penn's top duo was sophomore Kieran Doherty. Tying for 18th place in the field of 40, Doherty posted scores of 74, 77 and 76. Behind Doherty was sophomore Todd Golditch, who posted scores of 77 and 81 on Friday but played an inspired round on Saturday. The native of Northridge, Calif., led Penn by shooting 74 on Saturday, only four over Bethpage's par of 70. Rounding out the field for Penn was senior Brian Owens, who finished in 29th place with rounds of 80, 75 and 78. While Penn was unable to repeat as Ivy champions, the Quakers do have one remaining tournament this spring in which they can gain a title. Competing this Friday and Saturday at the Princeton Invitational, Penn will again face many of its Ivy foes, along with most of the NCAA District II powerhouses. While the season has not turned out the way the Quakers had hoped, the Princeton Invitational should give Penn coach Francis Vaughn a chance to give many of his younger golfers more experience.
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