After finishing third in a four-way match yesterday at Tufts, the Harvard men's golf team must be wondering what it takes to win.

Behind Captain Terry Murray's fourth-place, 76-stroke outing, Harvard's five-man contingent fired a team total 392-20 strokes better than its showing a week ago at Princeton.

Medalist Drew Steffens, 74, was largely responsible for Dartmouth's 383 total which bested second-place Amherst's 386 and host Tufts' 396.

Junior Dan Murphy turned in a 77 while sophomore Ross Cockerall and freshman Dennis Crowley both carded 79. Sophomore Mike Foster added an 81. But Harvard still came up nine shots behind Dartmouth who, incidentally, was a surprise arrival in the contest, which had originally been scheduled to include only Amherst and Tufts.

"We didn't expect Dartmouth to play that well," Murray said. "But we kept it close and we are improving. We should be competitive with them at the [Ivy League] championships."

Harvard had better start cleaning the clubs--the Ivy tournament starts this Friday at Bethpage Country Club on Long Island.