Validating its status as the No. 1 team in the nation in the
latest Golfstat rankings, UCLA roared
to a 12-under-par 272 in the final round Sunday to surge past No. 31 Oklahoma
and capture the team title in the Battle at the Beach at Club Campestre San
Jose in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico.
The reigning Pacific Conference champion Bruins, who trailed
Oklahoma by five shots heading into the final round, finished up at 13-under
839 over the 6,209-yard, par-71 Club Campestre San Jose layout. Oklahoma had its
best round of the tournament, a 4-under 280, but had to settle for second at
10-under 842. Pretty sure the Sooners will be moving on up from 31st
the next time the rankings are released.
UCLA can’t go any higher, but likely will retain its No. 1
ranking after its third straight team title, coming on the heels of wins in the
Stanford Intercollegiate and the Nanea Pac-12 Preview.
No. 13 Texas – another team that will likely rise in the
rankings – carded its second straight 3-under 281 to finish third at 4-under
848.
It was 17 shots further back to No. 21 Virginia in fourth at
13-over 905. The Cavaliers, who matched par in the final round with a 284, were
the top finisher among a strong group of Atlantic Coast Conference teams in the
field.
No. 22 Houston and No. 38 Auburn finished tied for fifth at
18-over 870. Both the Cougars and the Tigers posted a 6-over 290 in Sunday’s
final round.
It was a little bit of a disappointing weekend for No. 24
North Carolina, which added its second 10-over 294 around a 300 in the middle
round to finish tied for 11th with TCU at 888.
UCLA was led by individual champion Lilia Vu, a junior from
Fountain Valley, Calif. who overtook Wake Forest’s Jennifer Kupcho, a junior
from Westminster, Colo., in a showdown between two of the top amateur players
in the world.
Vu, No. 4 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, fired a
4-under 67 Sunday after opening with a pair of 69s in the first two rounds to
finish with an 8-under 205 total. Vu, a semifinalist in the U.S. Women’s
Amateur at San Diego Country Club last summer, had trailed Kupcho, No. 2 in the
Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, by a shot heading into the final round.
Vu ripped off birdies at the seventh, ninth, 10th
and 13th holes to surge to the top spot.
Kupcho finished up with a solid 2-under 69, but it left her
a shot behind Vu at 7-under 206.
Backing up Vu for UCLA was Beth Wu, a junior from Diamond
Bar, Calif. who had the low round of the day Sunday, a 5-under 66 that enabled
her to climb into a tie for sixth at 3-under 210.
Mariel Galdiano, a sophomore from Pearl City, Hawaii, also
was in the 60s for the Bruins Sunday as she fired a 3-under 68 to finish tied
for 11th at even-par 213. Wu and Galdiano were also teammates on the
U.S. team that fell to a strong Great Britain & Ireland team in the 2016
Curtis Cup Match at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club in Dublin.
UCLA’s final counter came from freshman phenom Patty
Tavatanakit – as I mentioned in my post on the second round, all the top teams
seem to have a talented freshman or two – who matched par in the final round
with a 71 and finished tied for 16th at 2-over 215.
Tavatanaki is from Thailand, but has been using Van Nuys,
Calif. as her home base during the summer as she emerged as one of the top
players the last couple of years on the American Junior Golf Association
circuit.
Also for the Bruins, Clare Legaspi, a sophomore from the
Philippines, finished tied for 42nd at 222 after a final-round 77.
Legaspi struggled in the last two rounds, but her opening-round 69 helped the
Bruins keep pace with Oklahoma early in the tournament.
Vera Markevich, a freshman from Russia, competed as an
individual and had a final-round 74 after struggling in the first two rounds to
finish 81st at 239.
It was a strong showing by Oklahoma as the Sooners placed
their top three players among the top six in the individual standings.
Hannah Wood, a senior from Centennial, Colo., shared fourth
place with Texas senior Sophia Schubert, the reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur
champion from Oak Ridge, Tenn., at 4-under 209. Wood sandwiched a 2-under 69 in
the second round with a pair of 1-under 70s.
Oklahoma’s Julienne Soo, a junior from Australia, and Ana
Ruiz, a senior playing in her home country of Mexico, shared sixth place with
UCLA’s Wu at 3-under 210. Soo finished up with a 1-under 70 while Ruiz surged
up the leaderboard with the Sooners’ best round of the day, a 4-under 67.
Houston’s Leonie Harm, a junior from Germany, finished alone
in third, two shots behind Kupcho at 5-under 208. After opening with a 67, Harm
had steady rounds of 71 and 70.
Schubert finished up an even-par 71 to get her share of
fourth with Oklahoma’s Wood. The reigning Big 12 champion Longhorns were solid
this fall while integrating their two stud freshmen, Kaitlyn Papp of Austin,
Texas and Agathe Laisne, winner of the European Ladies’ Championship last
summer from France, into the lineup.
Papp finished 10th in the Battle at the Beach at 1-under 212
after a final round of 2-under 69. Laisne was the lowest finisher in the Texas
lineup, ending up tied for 33rd at 6-over 219, but her 1-under 70
Saturday was the Longhorns’ second-best score of the day.
North Carolina had been playing pretty well this fall,
highlighted by a fifth-place finish in its own Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel
Invitational. But the Tar Heels never got it going in San Jose del Cabo.
Bryana Nguyen, a senior from Columbia, Md., had her second straight
75 after opening up with a 3-under 68 as she was the Tar Heels’ top finisher at
5-over 218. Kelly Whaley, a junior from Farmington, Conn., finished strong with
a 1-under 70 to finish tied for 33rd at 6-over 219.
Sophomore Brynn Walker, the two-time PIAA Class AAA champion
during a stellar scholastic career at Radnor, finished up with a 4-over 75 to
end up in a tie for 52nd at 226.
Ava Bergner, the freshman phenom from Germany, had her
second straight 76 to finish tied for 55th at 227. A real bright
spot for the Tar Heels this fall, Bergner might have hit the wall in the
Mexico.
Mariana Ocano, a sophomore from St. Petersburg, Fla., finished
tied for 65th at 230 after following up a pair of 78s with a 74 that
was a counter for the Tar Heels in the final round.
North Carolina finished up strong last spring when it was a
frustrated ninth, one shot short of joining the final eight in match play in
the NCAA Championship at Rich Harvest Farms. The Tar Heels are capable of
making a similar run when the midseason break ends in February of next year.
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