Yale beats out second place M. Golf for Ivy title

The Penn men's golf team's season ended this past Sunday as Yale won the Ivy Championships at the Metedeconk National Golf Course in Jackson, N.J.

However, the Quakers weren't far behind finishing 11 strokes shy of the Elis, which was good for second place. With the Ivy championship, Yale earned the chance to play in the NCAA Regionals, from which top teams will then advance to the National Championship.

Even before the competition got started, Penn coach Heath Davidson knew that his squad would be in the running for first.

"There are three teams with a chance to win," Davidson said Thursday night before the tournament. "We are definitely one of them."

The tournament consisted of 54 holes, 27 each day. Each team played five golfers, and the four lowest scores were counted and summed to represent team totals.

The Red and Blue were in the lead by three strokes after the first 18 holes. Saturday's remaining nine offered a true test to the players, as they struggled with the difficulty of the course as well as mental and physical fatigue.

"Saturday's last nine really hurt us," Davidson said. "We gave up 12 shots."

Penn fell back into third place after the first day of competition.

Specifically, Penn struggled with approach shots. The team met that evening and discussed the day and a plan for the second half of the tournament.

"We played well on Sunday but so did Yale -- we couldn't catch them and came up a few shots short," Davidson said.

"I'm very pleased with the season -- everyone gave 100 percent," Davidson added. "There's no comparison to last year, we've improved dramatically."

Last year's squad finished sixth in the Ivy Championships.

Three members of Penn's lineup will not get another shot at an Ivy title. Senior co-captains Chad Perman and Peyton Wallace and senior Endel Liias will be graduating at the end of May.

Perman and Liias led the way for the Quakers, tying for fourth overall with overall scores of 227. Freshman Derek Rogers was close behind, shooting a 230 for eighth place.

The highlight of this spring featured a victory at Towson, where Penn beat out 18 teams and Perman won the medalist competition.

Prior to that victory, the team took a spring break vacation to San Diego and Los Angeles where they played a local tournament and several other practice rounds on area courses.

Following the win at Towson, Penn finished seventh among tough competition at the Navy Invitational. The Princeton Invitational was canceled due to weather, giving the Quakers three weeks to practice for the Ivy Championships.

While Penn's season ended sooner than it might have hoped, the Quakers showed that they can be competitive in the Ivies. Repeating their second place finish will be difficult, however, without the departing senior stars. New leaders will need to emerge for a run in 2004.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.