Individual co-champion Schroeder leads Ohio State to Big Ten crown

   Several big-time programs lost some really good players in the middle of the wrap-around 2018-’19 college season in the aftermath of the LPGA Q-Series last fall. Ohio State was definitely one of them.

   Canadian Jaclyn Lee was a real star for the Buckeyes. She had won the Big Ten individual title last spring and finished tied for fifth in the NCAA Championship at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla. Lee made it to the semifinals of the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship at Hillside Golf Club in Southport, England and to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Golf Club of Tennessee.

   When she finished sixth in the LPGA Q-Series, a grueling test of eight rounds over two weeks at the Pinehurst Resort, Lee had a decision to make. She chose to start her professional career right away. Which means nobody was rooting harder for the Buckeyes at this weekend’s Big Ten Championship at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio than Jaclyn Lee.

   Turns out Lee will be part of the 2018-’19 Big Ten champion Ohio State team after the Buckeyes fired a 7-under-par 281 over the 6,3542-yard, par-72 TPC River’s Bend layout Sunday to pull out a three-shot victory over three teams in a Big Ten Championship shortened to 36 holes by rain.

   Ohio State came into the weekend at No. 57 in the latest Golfstat rankings, possibly a bubble team for an NCAA Regional berth. But Sunday’s win makes the Buckeyes an automatic qualifier.

   Getting a huge boost from individual co-champion Niki Schroeder, a senior from Avon Lake, Ohio, the Buckeyes, who had opened with a 6-over 294, finished with a 1-under 575 total to claim the 18^th Big Ten crown in program history, the 11^th under director of golf Therese Hession.

   According to the Ohio State website, Hession rolled out the big gun in preparation for this weekend’s Big Ten Championship as she invited the greatest winner in the history of golf, Jack Nicklaus, to give her team a pep talk. Seems Jack hasn’t lost his touch.

   No. 30 Illinois, which had grabbed the lead after Friday’s opening round with a 3-over 291, No. 56 Indiana and No. 33 Purdue all landed in a tie for second at 2-over 578.

   The Illini carded a solid 1-under 287, the Hoosiers shaved 10 shots off their opening-round 294 with a 4-under 284, and the Boilermakers, a perennial Big Ten contender, added a 7-under 281 to their opening-round 297.

   No. 19 Michigan State saw its two-year reign as Big Ten champion halted as the Spartans finished fifth at 4-over 580, two shots behind the trio tied for second, after adding a 5-under 283 to their opening-round 297.

   Northwestern, at No. 16 the highest-ranked team in the field (I went back and fixed my post from the opening round when I accorded that honor to Michigan State), had the best team round of the day Sunday, an 8-under 280, to end up in sixth place at 6-over 582. The Wildcats, who have reached match play in the NCAA Championship each of the last two springs, opened with an uncharacteristic 302.

   No. 49 Penn State came up big with an even-par 288 after opening with a 307 Friday, but it wasn’t enough to move the Nittany Lions out of 11^th place at 19-over 595. I am certainly not a bracketologist, so it will be interesting to see if Penn State’s season-long body of work will be good enough to earn it a bid to an NCAA regional when the fields are unveiled Wednesday with a selection show on The Golf Channel that gets under way at 5:30 p.m. Eastern time.

   TPC River’s Bend clearly played a little easier in the wake of daylong rains that forced the postponement of Saturday’s second round.

   Schroeder took advantage by firing a 6-under 66, matching the low round of the day, to share the Big Ten individual title with Purdue’s Ida Ayu Indira Melati Putri, a senior from Indonesia, at 6-under 138. Schroeder had matched par in the opening round with a 72.

   Backing up Schroeder for Ohio State was Aneka Seumanutafa, a freshman from Emmitsburg, Md. who carded a solid 3-under 69 to join a group of three players tied for fifth at 2-under 142.  Seumanutafa arrived in Columbus in time for the spring semester. There’s really no way to replace Lee, but Seumanutafa has certainly filled a little of the huge void created by Lee’s departure.

   Seumanutafa showed up at the Kennett Square Golf & Country Club on a rainy day in September along with her pal, Faith Choi, the Maryland Junior Girls champion from Frederick, Md., for a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship and grabbed the lone ticket available in a playoff.

   The U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship tees off Saturday at the Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Fla. Look out for those Maryland teens if Seumanutafa still plans to play. As I mentioned when Seumanutafa and Choi qualified, Arizona’s Haley Moore and Gigi Stoll played in the U.S. Women’s Four-Ball last spring and a couple of weeks later were hoisting an NCAA Championship trophy.

   Seumanutafa wasn’t the only youngster to deliver the goods this weekend for Ohio State. Fellow freshmen Skylar Thompson of Buford, Ga. and Lauren Peter of Carmel, N.Y. finished tied for 24^th and tied for 33d, respectively.

   Thompson contributed an even-par 72 to Sunday’s winning effort for the Buckeyes to finish at 4-over 148. Peter’s 76 Sunday was a throw-out, but her 1-over 73 was crucial to Friday’s solid start.

   Yukie Sasaki, a sophomore from Japan, added a 2-over 74 to her opening-round 79 for a crucial counter that left her in the group tied for 56^th at 153. Rounding out the Ohio State lineup in the six-score-four format utilized for the Big Ten Championship was Adeena Shears, a junior from Parkersburg, W.Va. who added a 3-over 75 to her opening-round 81 for a 156 total that left her among the group tied for 69^th at 156.

   Putri has been a fixture in the Purdue lineup for four years. After opening with a 1-under 71 Friday. Putri fired a 5-under 67 Sunday to get a piece of the Big Ten individual crown with Schroeder.

   Indiana’s Erin Harper, a senior from Dublin, Ohio, also matched the low round of the day with a sparkling 6-under 66 that gave her third place alone at 4-under 140.

   Michigan State’s Paz Marfa Sans, a junior from Spain, fired a 5-under 67 to finish a shot behind Harper in fourth place at 3-under 141. Harper and Marfa Sans had both opened with a 2-over 74.

   Joining Ohio State’s Seumanutafa in the trio tied for fifth at 2-under 142 were Michigan’s Elodie Van   Dievoet, a senior from Belgium, and Maryland’s Virunpat Olankitkunchai, a sophomore from Thailand.

   Van Dievoet, the Big Ten individual champ as a sophomore two years ago, added a 4-under 68 to her opening-round 74 while Olankitkunchai carded a 3-under 69 after opening with a 73.

   Northwestern’s Brooke Riley, a junior from Manteca, Calif., headed a group of three players tied for eighth place at even-par 144. Riley, coming off an impressive victory in the Silverado Showdown in Napa, Calif., fired a 4-under 68 after opening with a 76.

   Riley was joined at 144 by two Illinois freshmen, Crystal Wang of Diamond Bar, Calif. and Kornkamol Sukaree of Huntingdon Beach, Calif. Wang added a 2-under 70 to her opening-round 74. Sukaree was one of the three individual co-leaders after the first round when she carded a 1-under 71 and added a 1-over 73 Sunday.

    If it was the final college round for Penn State senior Cara Basso, the 2012 PIAA Class AA champion as a sophomore at Villa Maria Academy – and I certainly hope it was not – she went out firing. A year ago, Basso had finished tied for fourth at TPC River’s Bend and was invited to the NCAA Madison Regional to compete as an individual.

   Basso struggled to an 81 in Friday’s opening round, but Sunday she fired a 5-under 67 to land among the group tied for 24^th at 4-over 148. Also in that group was Basso’s teammate, junior Megan McLean, a Voorhees High product. McLean, who has probably been Penn State’s most consistent player this spring, matched par Sunday with a 72 after opening with a 76.

   Sarah Willis, a freshman from Eaton, Ohio, struggled to a 78 Sunday after opening with a 1-over 73 to land in the group tied for 42^nd at 7-over 151. The future looks bright for the kid who burst onto the scene when she won the individual title in the Nittany Lion Invitational while competing as an individual.

   Senior Jackie Rogowicz, a two-time PIAA runnerup at Pennsbury, added a solid 2-over 74 to her opening-round 79 to finish among the group tied for 56^th at 153. Junior Madelein Herr, who starred scholastically at Council Rock North, added a 3-over 75 to her opening-round 79 to finish among the group tied for 61^st at 154.

   Senior Lauren Waller, the 2014 PIAA Class AAA runnerup as a senior at Canon-McMillan, rounded out the Penn State lineup as she added a 77 to her opening-round 80 to finish tied for 76^th at 160.

   McLean and Herr will be the senior leaders next year. In Basso, Rogowicz and Waller, they have a pretty good idea of what senior leadership looks like.