Tough golf course. Tough conditions. Tough field. What can
you say? When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
I extolled the virtues of the tough Texas golfer in a couple
of posts last summer, the subjects being two-time U.S. Women’s Amateur champion
Kristen Gillman and U.S. Amateur and U.S. Junior Amateur semifinalist Cole
Hammer.
Two-time reigning Big 12 champion Texas, No. 3 in the latest
Golfstat rankings, showed a little of
that Texas toughness in holding off No. 5 Duke by two shots Tuesday to capture
the team title in the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate at English Turn Golf
& Country Club in New Orleans.
The Longhorns did it without maybe their best player, junior
Emilee Hoffman, and with three Texans, senior Maddie Luitwieler of Katy,
freshman Hailee Cooper of Montgomery and sophomore home girl Kaitlyn Papp from
Austin playing key roles.
Texas had built a four-shot lead going into the final round,
the Longhorns sitting at even-par 576. But the 6,239-yard, par-72 English Turn
layout proved to be a challenge and Texas could do no better than a 12-over 300
that gave them a 12-over 876 total.
The two-time reigning Atlantic Coast Conference champion
Dookies closed with the best round of the day, an 8-over 296, as the Blue
Devils finished second with a 14-over 878 total.
Top-ranked Southern California, which began the day in
second place, struggled to a final round of 307, but still held third place at
23-over 887, nine shots behind Duke.
A couple of Southeastern Conference powers, No. 8 Florida
and No. 16 South Carolina, shared fourth place at 24-over 888, a shot behind
the Trojans. The Gators, led by individual co-champion Addie Baggarly, a
sophomore from Jonesborough, Tenn., carded a final-round 304 while the
Gamecocks finished up with a 300.
No. 47 Houston, led by the other individual co-champion,
Leonie Harm, a senior from Germany, finished alone in sixth place at 28-over
892, four shots behind the two SEC entries, after a final-round 299.
It was another eight shots back to another SEC team, No. 11
Auburn, in seventh at 46-over 900 after a final-round 299. Duke, Houston and
Auburn were the only teams that were able to break 300 in Tuesday’s final
round.
Two-time reigning Big Ten champion Michigan State, ranked 27th,
finished alone in eighth place at 38-over 902 after a final-round 301. No. 25
Miami was another five shots behind the Spartans in ninth place at 43-over 907
after a final-round 304.
Allstate Sugar Bowl host LSU, ranked 54th,
finished 10th at 46-over 910 after a final-round 306.
After starting slowly with an opening-round 305 when
conditions were a little more favorable, No. 34 North Carolina carded a second
straight 303 and moved up to 11th place, a shot behind LSU at
47-over 911, despite a tough week for Radnor High product Brynn Walker.
The Tar Heels managed to sneak past ACC rival North Carolina
State, the 56th-ranked Wolfpack finishing a shot behind North
Carolina in 12th place in the 18-team field at 48-over 912 after a
final-round 305.
Luitwieler wasn’t the best Texas player Tuesday, but she was
the Longhorns’ lowest individual finisher for the week as she gutted out a
4-over 76 to end up in the group tied for eighth at 3-over 219.
The low round of the day for Texas belonged to Agathe
Laisne, a sophomore from France and the No. 40 player in the Women’s World
Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). Laisne continued a solid stretch of play early in
the spring campaign with a 2-over 74 that left her in the group tied for 11th
at 4-over 220.
Cooper, the prized freshman recruit, also landed at 220
after carding a final round of 3-over 75. Papp, who teamed with Cooper to
capture the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Streamsong,
matched her old partner’s 3-over 75 to finish in the group tied for 17th
at 6-over 222. Papp is No. 24 in the Women’s WAGR.
Sara Kouskova, a freshman from the Czech Republic, struggled
to an 80 in the final round to finish among the group tied for 34th
at 227. However, Kouskova’s first two rounds, a 73 and a 74, were both counters
and when the numbers were all counted, every shot mattered.
Harm, winner of last summer’s Ladies’ British Open Amateur
Championship and No. 15 in the Women’s WAGR, birdied her final hole, the par-5
second, for a final round of 1-over 73. That gave her an even-par 216 total.
It was a bust-out performance for Florida’s Baggarly, who
finished up with a 2-over 74 after a pair of 1-under 71s to get her share of
the individual title with Harm. The Gators are going to be a handful this
spring.
Harm’s teammate, Amanda Elich, a junior from West Linn,
Ore., and South Carolina’s Lois Kaye Go, a junior from the Philippines, had the
low rounds of the day, each carding a 2-under 70, to end up in a trio of
players tied for third at 1-over 217, a shot behind the co-champions.
They were joined at that figure by Auburn’s Julie McCarthy,
a sophomore from Ireland who matched par in the final round with 72.
Go’s fellow Gamecock, Emily Price, a freshman from England,
and Tulane’s Jennifer Rosenberg, a sophomore from Laurel Hollow, N.Y., shared
sixth place, each ending up at 2-over 218. Price and Rosenberg each closed with
a 2-over 74.
Joining Texas’ Luitwieler in the trio tied for eighth at
3-over 219 were a couple of Dookies, Ana Belac, a junior from Slovenia and No.
41 in the Women’s WAGR, and Jaravee Boonchant, a sophomore from Thailand and
No. 25 in the Women’s WAGR.
Belac had a two-shot lead in the individual chase heading
into the final round, but struggled to a 79 in Tuesday’s final round. Boonchant
closed with a 3-over 75.
It was a disappointing start to the spring campaign for
North Carolina, but the Tar Heels got a really solid performance from Mariana Ocano, a junior from
St. Petersburg, Fla. Ocano finished strong by matching par with a 72 Tuesday
and ended up in the group tied for 15th at 5-over 221.
Kelly Whaley, the Tar Heels’ senior leader out of
Farmington, Conn., and Nicole Lu, a freshman from Taiwan, both landed among the
group tied for 50th at 231. Both finished up with a 5-over 77 and
for Lu it was her third consecutive round of 77 over the English Turn layout.
Ava Bergner, a sophomore from Germany, also closed with a
5-over 77 to finish among the group tied for 58th at 232.
Walker, a junior who was
the winner of the PIAA Class AAA title in 2014 and ’15 when she was at
Radnor, posted a second straight 79 to finish in the group tied for 68th
at 234.
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