Following last weekend’s promising opening at the Alex Lagowitz Memorial Invitation, the men’s golf team showed its inexperience while hosting the annual Cornell Invitational this weekend.
After finishing third last year, the Red struggled at Robert Trent Jones Golf Course, finishing in 10th place with a team score of 879. Cornell entered the season with the tough task of replacing Mike Graboyes ’18 and Chris Troy ’18, whose graduation has left the team in a tough spot.
The 15-team field, consisting of the Cornell and Penn B teams, also featured four other Ivy League teams: Yale, Columbia, Penn and Dartmouth. Of those teams was first place Yale (839), who dominated the tournament, winning by 24 strokes over second-place Dartmouth (863).
The Red came out hot on Friday, shooting two under par as a team (282), but really fell off as the weekend continued. The Red’s inconsistent performance saw it score 15 shots worse on Saturday (297) and 18 shots worse on Sunday (300).
Sophomore Charlie Dubiel was the sole top-15 individual finish for the Red, finishing two over, good enough for tied for 12th place. Junior Mike May and Senior (Jack) Tianyi Cen finished tied for 31st and 33rd, respectively.
The Cornell B team (906) beat the Penn B team by a full 13 strokes and nearly beat the first team on Saturday with an impressive 298.
The weekend proves Cornell has work to do in order to compete with the top of the Ivy League. Although the Red beat Columbia by one stroke, it finished 40 strokes behind Yale.
The Red will look to rebound next weekend at The Quechee Club Collegiate Challenge in Quechee, Vermont, a tournament that will again feature a fleet of Ivy League competition.