The golf team started off its spring season with a bang last weekend, taking advantage of windy conditions at the George Washington Invitational tournament in Rehoboth Beach, Del. to catapult itself from 19th place at the end of Day 1 on Saturday to seventh at the completion of the 24-team tournament on Sunday afternoon.
The Red climbed the team leader board at the par-72, 6,834-yard Bear Trap Dunes Golf Course with a second round team score of 302 —the fifth-lowest team score of the day — surpassing 12 teams along the way. Unfortunately the Red did not finish ahead of rivals Yale and Penn, the only other Ivy League teams at the event.
According to junior Chad Bernstein, Cornell’s success on Day 2 was due in no small part to Sunday’s windy conditions.
“On the second day it was just absurdly windy,” Bernstein said. “I think that helped us a little because we play in Ithaca all year long, where the weather is terrible, so we’re pretty used to those types of conditions.”
Three Cornell players finished in the top-35 among the 120 golfers, with freshman Robert Cronheim — who shot a 76 and 74, respectively — leading the way by taking 24th overall.
“Rob played very well,” Bernstein said. “He’s a good ball-striker so I don’t think the wind effected him that much. I expect him to play well this spring.”
Junior Breton Perry also shot a second round 74 to finish one stroke behind Cronheim in the tournament, good enough for a 28th-place finish.
Classmate Austin Lord rounded out the Red’s top-35 finishers by firing a 75 on Sunday to place 35th. Junior Robbie Fritz also contributed some points for Cornell by placing in the top half of the field — 59th overall — with a total score of 157.
“We know what we’re going to get out of our top-3 guys [Fritz, Cronheim and Perry] every week,” Bernstein said. “So if we get point contributions from the other two starters than we’re going to be a force.”