Opening up its season at the Doc Gimmler Invite this weekend, the Harvard men’s golf team enters the season with various new faces joining the squad.
However, the ultimate goal this season remains the same as it was during the previous campaign: to capture an Ivy League Championship.
The Crimson comes off a season in which it finished third in the Ancient Eight for the second consecutive year, placing behind Princeton and champion Penn.
Harvard last took home the Ivy League title in 1975.
“We fielded a strong team last year, and the vibe around this year’s squad is very similar,” Harvard coach Kevin Rhoads said. “We obviously wish some of our results last spring were better, but the culture around us is improving year in and year out and that’s a trend I see continuing into the foreseeable future.”
Despite the loss of senior captain Akash Mirchandani, the Crimson has made several key additions.
Harvard will be joined this fall by freshmen Aurian Capart, Paul Lei, a walk-on, and Seiya Liu.
The incoming class looks to bring a vast amount of talent and success to an experienced roster.
Capart, a native of Bousval, Belgium, was the winner of the Belgium National Matchplay Men’s Championship in 2013, as well as the Belgium Junior Masters Championship in 2012 and 2014.
Liu, meanwhile, was ranked 56th in the nation in the Class of 2015 by Golfweek.
This year’s team will be captained by senior Rohan Ramnath. Also returning to action is sophomore Gregory Royston of Durban, South Africa, who was selected as Ivy League Rookie of the Year last season.
Rounding out the squad are senior Un Cho, juniors Robert Deng, Daniel De La Garza, and Kendrick Vinar, and sophomore Hale Furey.
“We’ve been practicing quite hard this year, and I’m very excited to see how the guys perform out on the course this weekend,” Royston said. “I think with our three new incoming freshmen this year plus our returning cast of veterans we could really accomplish great things.”
The Crimson opens the fall portion of its split season participating in the Doc Gimmler invite hosted by St. John’s University. The tournament will take place this weekend at Bethpage Red course in Farmingdale, N.Y.
Last season Harvard finished tied for sixth out of the 14 teams competing, placing behind eventual champion and Ivy League rival Yale.
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