Chacarra matches big brother's 62 in UCF Challenge to claim individual title, lead Wake Forest to team crown

    In my last post I chronicled a spectacular 10-under-par 62 fired by Oklahoma State’s Eugenio Chacarra in the final round of The Amer Ari Invitational at Hapuna Golf Course in Waimea, Hawaii Saturday, leading the Cowboys to the team title.

   Google informs me that Eagle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, Fla. is 4,642 miles from Hawaii’s Big Island. But there was Eugenio’s little sister Carolina, a freshman at Wake Forest from Spain, matching big brother’s accomplishment three days later as she finished off a spectacular 10-under 62 of her own Tuesday to power the Demon Deacons to a 14-shot victory over Kentucky for the team crown in the UCF Challenge.

   Eugenio Chacarra started his college career at Wake Forest before transferring to Oklahoma State.

   The UCF Challenge, hosted by the University of Central Florida, has turned into a popular jumping-off spot teams beginning the spring portion of their seasons.

   With an iffy weather forecdast for Tuesday, players started their final rounds Monday and got in as many holes as they could before darkness fell. Chacarra ripped off four straight birdies at the third, fourth, fifth and sixth holes, eagled the par-4 seventh hole, and made birdie at eight and was 7-under with six holes left when play was halted for the day.

   Chacarra returned to the 6,349-yard, par-72 Eagle Creek layout Tuesday morning and birdied three of those last six holes to complete the best single round in Wake Forest history and claim the individual crown by four shots.

   Chacarra had opened with a 3-under 69 and added a sparkling 6-under 66 in Monday’s second round. Her 9-under 135 total through 36 holes was matched by the Kentucky pair of Jensen Castle, a junior from West Columbia, S.C. and No. 85 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Rikke Svejgard Jensen, a fifth-year player from Denmark.

   Castle, who became Kentucky’s first U.S. Women’s Amateur champion at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. last summer, had grabbed the lead with a career-best 6-under 66 in Sunday’s opening round and added a 3-under 69 Monday morning. Svejgard Jensen opened with a 69 and then got it going Monday morning with a 66 of her own to join Chacarra and her teammate Castle at the top of the leaderboard.

   But Chacarra left everybody in the dust with her final-round fireworks, landing on 19-under 197, the best 54-hole total in relation to par in Wake Forest history and the second-lowest 54-hole total in relation to par in NCAA history.

   Wake Forest came into the week ranked No. 6 by Golfstat heading into the spring portion of the wraparound 2021-2022 season and it looks like its showing at Eagle Creek bumped the Demon Deacons up to No. 5. It looks like the rankings were updated at some point after the completion of the UCF Challenge Tuesday.

   Wake Forest opened with a solid 11-under 277, then took control with a sizzling 19-under 269 in the second round. Chacarra’s heroics enabled the Demon Deacons to finish up with a 15-under 273 for a 45-under 819 total, the second-lowest 54-hole total in relation to par in NCAA history.

   Behind a runnerup finish by Castle, who matched the career-best 66 she fired in the opening round again in the final round, Kentucky, out of the Southeastern Conference, settled for runnerup honors with a 31-under 833 total.

   Castle’s 15-under 201 total and that 833 team total, they were both school records, by a lot. Castle beat the old Kentucky record for 54 holes by four shots and the Wildcats beat their previous best team score for 54 holes by a whopping 25 shots.

   You just knew Castle was going to get a huge confidence boost from winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur and from representing the United States in its Curtis Cup victory over Great Britain & Ireland at Conwy Golf Club in Caernarvonshire, Wales. And you sensed that Jensen’s new-found swagger was going to trickle down through the Kentucky roster.

   The Wildcats actually led Wake Forest by a shot following an opening round of 12-under 276. They added a solid 9-under 279 in the second round before closing with a 10-under 278 in the final round. Kentucky started the week ranked 34^th by Golfstat, but following its bustout performance at Eagle Creek, the Wildcats jumped into the top 25 at No. 25.

   Wake Forest’s Atlantic Coast Conference rival Virginia closed with a pretty special 14-under 274 to finish four shots behind Kentucky in third place with a 27-under 837 total. You won’t be shocked to learn that the 274 was a program record and the 837 total tied the program record for 54 holes.

   Virginia had arrived at Eagle Creek having snuck in all of one round of golf since returning to Charlottesville for the spring semester. After opening with a pedestrian 2-under 286, the Cavaliers went off, carding an 11-under 277 in the second round before that program-record 274 in the final round. Somehow Virginia dropped a spot from No. 7 to No. 8 in the Golfstat rankings off that performance.

   It was eight more shots back to the College of Charleston out of the Colonial Athletic Association as the Cougars, getting a program-record 12-under 276 in Monday morning’s second round, finished with a 19-under 845 total. Program record for the 845 total, too? Sure.

   The College of Charleston, ranked 58^th, matched par in the opening round with a 288 and closed with a 7-under 281 around that sparkling 276 in the middle round.

   Kentucky’s SEC rival Auburn finished three shots behind the College of Charleston in fifth place with a 16-under 848 total. The Tigers opened with a 9-under 279 and did that one better in the second round with a 10-under 278 before struggling a little in the final round with a 3-over 291. Auburn dropped four spots in the Golfstat rankings from 12^th to 16^th following the UCF Challenge.

   Always underrated Big Ten champion Michigan State was three shots behind Auburn in sixth place with a 13-under 851 total. The Spartans, who jumped from No. 40 to No. 36 off their performance, sandwiched a 284 in the second round with a pair of 5-under 283s.

   No. 50 Kent State was a shot behind Michigan State in seventh place in the 18-team field, the Golden Flashes finishing with a 12-under 852 total.

   I’m guessing a small goal for Kent State was to try to beat its former head coach Lisa Strom, the 1994 PIAA champion at Lansdale Catholic who left the Golden Flashes to take over the program at her alma mater, Ohio State. Kent State did accomplish that as Strom’s Buckeyes finished in 13^th place, 15 shots behind the Golden Flashes with a 3-over 867 total.

   No. 95 Penn State, another Big Ten entry, had to be a little disappointed as the Nittany Lions finished last of the 18 teams with a 16-over 880 total. Ohio State and Penn State had a little bit of a jump on the field as both had teed it up in last week’s Big Ten Match Play at the Innisbrook Resort’s Ocean Course in Palm Harbor, Fla.

   After opening with an 8-over 296, Penn State bounced back with a 1-under 287 in the second round before closing with a 9-over 297.

   Backing up Chacarra for Wake Forest was Rachel Kuehn, a junior from Asheville, N.C. and No. 15 in the Women’s WAGR who finished with a 12-under 204 total that left her three shots behind Castle, her U.S. Curtis Cup teammate, in third place.

   Kuehn was just a shot out of the lead after carding back-to-back 5-under 67s in the first two rounds before cooling off a little in the final round with a 2-under 70.

   Virunpat Olankitkunchai, a graduate student from Thailand and No. 70 in the Women’s WAGR, finished among the group tied for 13^th place with a 6-under 210.

   Olankitkunchai is a nice addition for the Demon Deacons as she decided to take the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the coronavirus pandemic at Wake Forest after leading Maryland to the an NCAA Championship berth for the first time in program history last spring. After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Olankitkunchai posted a solid 4-under 68 in the second round before closing with a 70.

   Lauren Walsh, a junior from Ireland and No. 14 in the Women’s WAGR, gave Wake Forest a fourth finisher inside the top 20 as she joined a group tied for 19^th place with a 5-under 211 total.

   Walsh, who played on the GB&I team against her Wake Forest teammate Kuehn and Castle in Wales last summer, matched par in the opening round with a 72 and added a 4-under 68 in the second round before closing with a 71.

   All this Curtis Cup talk gives me a chance to remind you that it’s only 121 days until the 2022 Curtis Cup Match tees off June 10^th at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course. Castle’s U.S. Women’s Amateur win makes her an automatic selection for the U.S. team.

   Rounding out the Wake Forest lineup was Mimi Rhodes, a sophomore from England who finished among the group tied for 37^th place with a 1-under 215 total.  Rhodes contributed a 3-under 69 to the Demon Deacons’ fast start in the opening round before adding a pair of 1-over 73s in the final two rounds.

   Two of Castle’s Kentucky teammates, Svejgard Nielsen and Laney Frey, a sophomore from Lexington, Ky., finished among a group of four players tied for fourth place, three shots behind Wake Forest’s Kuehn at 9-under 207.

   After getting a share of the lead with her second-round 66, a career best, Svejgard Nielsen matched par in the final round with a 72 to finish at 9-under. Frye’s opening-round 68 tied her career best and she added a 70 in the second round before closing with a 3-under 69. It was easily a career-best 54-hole total for both Svejgard Nielsen and Frye.

   Joining Svejgard Nielsen and Frye at 9-under were host UCF’s Tunrada Piddon and Iowa State’s Taglao Jeeravivitaporn, both juniors from Thailand.

   After opening with a 5-under 67, Piddon added a 71 before closing with a 3-under 69. Jeeravivitaporn was in lockstep with her fellow Thai, adding a 71 in the second round to a strong opening-round 67 and finishing up with a 69.

   Finishing alone in eighth place at 8-under 208 was Virginia sophomore Jennifer Cleary, the Wilmington, Del. native who starred scholastically at Tower Hill. After opening with a 71, Cleary added a 4-under 68 in the second round before finishing up with a 69.

   Cleary, who won the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur Championship by 16 shots at Sunnybrook Golf Club last summer, took her first swings with Virginia in the UCF Challenge a year ago, the ACC having kept its golfers from competing in the fall of 2020 with the pandemic continuing to rage out of control.

   Cleary entered this year’s UCF Challenge as the No. 1 player in a very strong Virginia lineup.

   Two of Cleary’s Virginia teammates, Celeste Valinho, a junior from Jacksonville, Fla., and Rebecca Skoler, a sophomore from Needham, Mass. who was competing as an individual, were among a group of four players tied for ninth place, a shot behind Cleary at 7-under 209.

   After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Valinho added a 70 in the second round before finishing strong with a 5-under 67. After opening with a 3-under 69, Skoler added a pair of 70s in the final two rounds as she made a pretty strong case for a spot in the Cavaliers’ starting lineup.

   Rounding out the foursome tied for ninth place were Old Dominion’s Jana Melichova, a senior from the Czech Republic and No. 91 in the Women’s WAGR, and Auburn’s Anna Foster, a sophomore from Ireland.

   Melichova added a 69 to her opening round of 4-under 68 before matching par in the final round with a 72. Foster got off to a fast start with a 5-under 67 before adding a 70 in the second round and matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Mathilde Delavallade, a junior from France, led the way for Penn State as she finished in the group tied for 45^th place with a 1-over 217 total. After opening with a 1-under 71, Delavallade added back-to-back 73s in the final two rounds.

   A couple of freshmen, Drew Nienhaus of St. Louis, Mo. and Katie Scheck of Greensboro, Ga., have been solid in the Nittany Lions’ Florida foray the last two weeks.

   Nienhaus finished in a tie for 37^th place at 3-over 219 as she added a solid 2-under 70 to her opening-round 75 and closed with a 74. Scheck sandwiched a pair of 2-over 74s around an even-par 72 in the second round as she landed among the group tied for 61^st place with a 4-over 220 total.

   Isha Dhruva, a junior from Katy, Texas, finished alone in 86^th place with a 224 total. Dhruva matched par in the second round with a 72 after opening with a 76, but struggled to a 79 in the final round.

   Redshirt junior Taylor Waller, a scholastic standout at Canon-McMillan, and freshman Michelle Cox, who was the runnerup in the 2020 PIAA Class AAA Championship after losing in a playoff as a senior at Emmaus, finished among a trio tied for 96^th place at 233.

   Waller struggled in the opening round with an 82, but bounced back with a 1-over 73 in the second round before finishing up with a 78.

   Penn State head coach Denise St. Pierre brought along Cox, winner of the Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship at Lebanon Country Club last summer, to compete as an individual. Cox was probably feeling the nerves a little in an opening-round 85, but she bounced back with a couple of solid 2-over 74s in the last two rounds.