On the 53rd hole of the 54-hole Ivy League Men's Golf Championship, Sean Barrett knew he needed to take a tremendous risk in order to get to the top of the pack.
When Barrett drove from the tee on 17th, he intentionally landed his ball on the fairway of 16th, crossing a treacherous patch of rough. From there he had 200-plus yards to the flag. Using his three-iron, Barrett issued a laser toward the flag that lipped out of the cup for an easy tap-in and an eagle.
Barrett's incredible shot helped him earn second place at the championship and was a major force for Penn in earning third place at the championship. The women's team also finished third at their Ivy League Championship this weekend. It was their best finish in the program's six-year history.
The women shot a 1044 (361-345-338) over three days at Maidstone Golf Club in East Hampton, N.Y. They finished 74 strokes back of Princeton and 39 shots back of Yale.
The Quakers were led by senior captain Melissa Aylor. Aylor shot a 253 (89-80-84) to finish sixth and earn All-Ivy honors. Aylor was followed by fellow senior Lauren Eveland who shot a 263 (86-91-82) to finish 12th. Meg Bender finished 16th at 266, Kim Thompson finished 18th at 267 and Stephanie Stamas finished 25th at 273.
The women's team was ecstatic with their championship play. Coach Francis Vaughn credited the senior leadership of Aylor and Eveland for the strength of the Quakers' performance.
"I was very happy obviously with the way we finished and the way Melissa finished," Vaughn said. "It is nice to see our practice pay off in the performance we had."
Aylor noted that she and Eveland wanted "to go out with a bang." Aylor also said, "this was definitely a team goal, to come in third place or better."
The women were frequently challenged by Maidstone, which is ranked the 62nd best golf course in the country by Golf Digest. Golfers also had to deal with the fluctuating weather conditions the often accompany play on the coast of Long Island. The start of the second day was delayed an hour due to frost.
The men's team shot 894 (298-299-297) to finish third in an extremely competitive field. Penn finished 32 shots back of Princeton, a mere one shot back of Cornell and one shot ahead of Columbia. Barrett had the best finish on the team. He shot 216, which placed him second and earned him All-Ivy honors.
Derek Rogers also earned All-Ivy honors by finishing 10th with a 224 (73-77-74) at the Ballyowen Golf Club in Hardyston, N.J. Garrett Wentzell finished 18th at 227, Patrick Cooper finished 24th at 230, and Dean Merrill finished 26th at 231.
The Quakers were certainly proud of their finish, but they had reason to be disappointed as well. They had a five-shot lead over Cornell for second place after the second day, only to relinquish that position by finishing sixth on the third day of competition.
"Everyone went in with a lot f confidence," Barrett said. "A few guys may have had a little too much confidence."
Coach Rob Powelson tried to extract some positives from the obvious letdown his team was feeling.
"A lot of people were down and out, but my approach is the glass is half full," he said.
Powelson is very excited about the future of Penn golf.
"With the recruiting class coming in coupled with the young leadership, I think we have a strong future," he said.
However, Powelson looked at the strong play of Columbia and Cornell this weekend as a "wake up call for us that we will have to work harder to be competitive."
"We're really young right now," Barrett said. "There are some really good things on the horizon for the team."
