In 2020, the Dartmouth golf program was cut. Four years later, the Dartmouth women are now champions, after claiming the program's first Ivy League Championship on Sunday, beating Yale by two shots at the Stanwich Club in Greenwich, Conn.
The road to this point was a long one. When the program was cut in July 2020, players transferred out of Dartmouth in hopes of continuing to play college golf. Two players, however, decided to stay in Hanover, N.H., because they loved the school. Penelope Tir and Katherine Sung reaped the rewards on Sunday as they celebrated with their team and their coach, Alex Kirk.
Kirk had his own challenges when the program was cut. He had run the on-campus golf course, Hanover CC, which was also closed during the pandemic and never reopened. Out of both jobs, Kirk headed to Florida and worked as the head pro at the Glades. He was there less than a year when in January 2021, the Dartmouth program was reinstated due to potential legal action connected to Title IX. He was back in Hanover in June 2021 trying to rebuild the program.
"We started with four players in our first two semesters," Kirk said. "We found a fifth player to fill the roster, but she was shooting a hundred."