There was a lot of
college golf in the last week, but I wanted to sneak in one more tournament as
I continue to follow the exploits of former Radnor High standout Brynn Walker
at North Carolina.
It was a decent start to the season for North Carolina at
the Ocean Course Invitational over the Labor Day weekend, but Tar Heels coach
Jan Mann is making sure she keeps exposing her team to the highest level of competition she can find.
And the Tar Heels certainly found that last weekend in the
Mason Rudolph Women’s Championship, hosted by Vanderbilt at its Honors Course
in Franklin, Tenn.
North Carolina finished 11th at 9-over-par 873
over the 6,335-yard, par-72 Honors Course, but it had to be a little
disheartening to finish 50 shots behind tournament champion Arkansas. Of
course, the Razorbacks’ ridiculous 41-under 823 total tied an NCAA record in relation to par.
Arkansas is, very simply, loaded. The Razorbacks went
15-under 273 twice, in Saturday morning’s
opening round and in Sunday’s final round. In the middle round Saturday
afternoon, they only shot 11-under
277.
And they had to hold off an amazing rally by Alabama, which
finished second at 35-under 829. The Tide opened with a modest 4-under 284 and
then ripped off a remarkable 16-under 272 in the second round before matching
Arkansas’ final round of 15-under 273.
In third place, that was only reigning national champion
Arizona State, which slipped to a final-round 286 after rounds of 277 and 276
Saturday for a 25-under 839 total.
Host Vanderbilt was another three shots behind the Sun
Devils in fourth at 22-under 842. Perennial Big Ten power Northwestern, which
battled its way to the NCAA Championship’s Final Match before falling to
Arizona State last spring, finished fifth at 17-under 847.
North Carolina struggled in the opening round with a 6-over
294. The Tar Heels matched par with a 288 in the second round before finishing
up with a 3-over 291. They weren’t quite taking full advantage of a golf course
that was yielding some very low numbers.
The good news for North Carolina is that it was led Ava
Bergner, a freshman from Germany who has quickly established herself as the
team’s best player. Bergner sandwiched an even-par 72 with a couple of 2-under
70s in the first and third rounds to finish tied for 18th at 4-under
212.
Walker, a sophomore who was Pennsylvania’s best high school
player in her last two seasons at Radnor, started slowly with a 4-over 76, but
righted the ship with a 1-under 71 Saturday afternoon and an even-par 72 Sunday
to finish tied for 44th at 3-over 219.
Bryanna Nguyen, a senior from Columbia, Md., finished tied
for 54th at 6-over 222 after a final-round 74, Kelly Whaley, a
junior from Farmington, Conn., finished tied for 57th at 223 after a
final-round 76 and Mariana Ocano, a sophomore from St. Petersburg, Fla.,
finished tied for 62nd at 226 after a final-round 75. Clementian
Rodriguez, a junior from Venezuela, competed as an individual and finished tied
for 75th at 235 after a final-round 78.
All around the Tar Heels, some lights-out golf was being played.
The Razorbacks were led by Maria Fassi, a junior from
Mexico, who shared individual medalist honors with Alabama’s Lauren Stephenson,
a junior from Lexington, S.C., at 16-under 200.
Fassi and Stephenson both played their final five holes in
5-under par, Fassi with three birdies and an eagle and Stephenson finishing up
with five straight birdies. They each shot 8-under 64.
Fassi had opened with a 7-under 65 and cooled off with a
1-under 71 in Saturday afternoon’s second round before resuming her assault on
par at the Honors Course.
Stephenson participated in one of the great matches in
United States Golf Association history when she fell – I hesitate to call her
the loser – in an epic 30-hole match to Chia Yen Lau of Chinese Taipei in the
quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at San Diego Country Club last month.
She had a pair of 68s in Saturday’s double-round on The
Honors Course and showed the kind of determination she displayed in the U.S.
Women’s Amateur with those five straight birdies in her final-round 64.
Alone in third place, four shots off the blazing pace set by
Fassi and Stephenson, was Fassi’s teammate, Alana Uriell, a junior from
Carlsbad, Calif. Uriell had to be wondering how she finished four shots out of first
when she fired rounds of 67, 69 and 68 to finish at 12-under 204.
The Razorbacks had a third player in the top four as Dylan
Kim, a junior from Plano, Texas, was one of three players tied for fourth at
10-under 206. Kim’s 5-under 67 in the middle round kept the Arkansas roll going.
Also for Arkansas, Cara Gorlei, a junior from South Africa,
finished tied for 22nd at 3-under 213 after a final-round 72 and
Kaylee Benton, a junior from Buckeye, Ariz., finished tied for 52nd
at 5-over 221 after a final-round 72.
Joining Arkansas’ Kim in the group tied for fourth at
10-under 206 were Arizona State’s Linnea Strom, a junior from Sweden, and
Vanderbilt’s Abbey Carlson, a sophomore from Lake Mary, Fla.
Strom basically picked up where she left off last spring
when her scorching play had a lot to do with Arizona State’s surge to its
eighth national championship. She had rounds of 67 and 69 Saturday before
finishing up with a 70.
Carlson fired a sizzling 6-under 66 in the opening round and
added rounds of 69 and 71.
Auburn’s Elena Hualde, a sophomore from Spain, finished alone
in seventh place at 7-under 209. After rounds of 67 and 69 in Saturday’s
double-round, Hualde cooled off a little with a final round of 1-over 73.
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