Arizona State edges Northwestern by a shot for team title as the Darius Rucker brings the drama

 

   When it comes to women’s college golf tournaments, it’s not much of a stretch to consider the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate at the Long Cove Club on Hilton Head Island, S.C., the rock star of events.

   Darius Rucker is, after all, a rock star and the trophy that goes to the winner is a guitar. But that’s just a small part of it. Rucker, a backer of all University of South Carolina sports and an avid golfer, has put together an event that draws many of the top teams in the country and placed it on the calendar in such a way, Monday through Wednesday in early March, that The Golf Channel’s cameras are rolling.

   And the home stretch of Wednesday’s final round turned into great theater with Arizona State, coming across the country to tee it up on the South Carolina coast, edging perennial Big Ten power Northwestern by a shot with Southeastern Conferences powers Auburn and host South Carolina not far behind.

   It was shades of the NCAA Championship’s Final Match in 2017 at chilly Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill. when Arizona State defeated Northwestern to win the eighth national championship in the Sun Devils’ rich golf tradition.

   With Grace Summerhays, a junior and a member of the golfing Summerhays family of Scottsdale, Ariz., grabbing the individual lead with a pair of 3-under-par 68s over the 6,369-yard, par-71 Long Cove layout in the first two rounds, the Sun Devils trailed Northwestern by just a shot going into the final round.

   Arizona State had grabbed the lead with a 6-under 278 in the opening round before falling behind Northwestern by a shot with a 2-over 286 in Tuesday’s second round.

   Summerhays faltered a little down the stretch with four back-nine bogeys on her way to a 4-over 75, but her teammates picked her up. And when Summerhays just needed to make no worse than bogey at the 18^th hole, she made bogey to preserve a one-shot victory for Arizona State.

   The Sun Devils finished with a 3-over 291 for a 3-over 855 total. Northwestern had added a 2-under 282 in Tuesday’s second round to its opening round of 3-under 281 to take a one-shot edge into the final round, but the Wildcats closed with a 9-over 293 to finish a shot behind Arizona State with a 4-over 856 total.

   Maybe the most clutch Arizona State performer down the stretch was the well-named Patience Rhodes, a redshirt freshman from England. Rhodes made a double bogey on the 10^th hole, but, with the TV cameras rolling and the pressure mounting, she rattled off eight straight pars to finish her round, including a clutch up-and-down for par on the 18^th hole that gave Summerhays the luxury of getting away with bogey at the last.

   Summerhays’ final-round 75 left her alone in seventh place with a 2-under 211 total.

   Rhodes had contributed a 3-under 68 to Arizona State’s strong start and backed off a little with a 3-over 74 in Tuesday’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 71 that left her among a group tied for 12^th place at even-par 213, a group that included teammate Beth Coulter, a sophomore from Ireland.

   Northwestern was led by Jennifer Cai, a senior from Irvine, Calif. who was one of a heavyweight foursome that shared medalist honors, each landing on 5-under 208.

   After matching par with a 71 in the opening round, Cai carded a 3-under 68 in the second round before closing with a 2-under 69.

   Even the weather cooperated for the Darius Rucker as an approaching storm waited until the overnight hours between Tuesday’s second round and Wednesday’s final round to do its worst. Long Cove got an inch-and-a-half of rain dumped on it, but the Long Cove crew whipped the course into shape.

   The soft conditions allowed players to try to attack the pins, but some tricky winds seemed to counter the soggy turf.

   Mississippi State’s Julia Lopez Ramirez, a junior from Spain and No. 3 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), took advantage of the soft conditions to put together an eight-birdie, one-bogey 7-under masterpiece of a 64 to rocket up the leaderboard and post a 5-under total that was ultimately matched, but not bettered.

   Lopez Ramirez, the reigning Southeastern Conference individual champion, had opened with a solid 4-under 67, but struggled in Tuesday’s second round on her way to a 6-over 77.

   It looked like South Carolina’s Hannah Darling, a junior from Scotland and No. 24 in the Women’s WAGR, might claim the individual crown outright when she got it to 5-under with birdies at the 14^th and 16^th holes.

   But pars at the last two holes gave Darling, strongly backed by the Gamecock faithful at Hilton Head, a final round of 1-under 70 and a share of the individual title. Darling had opened with a 1-over 72 before getting within two shots of Summerhays with a sparkling 5-under 66 in Tuesday’s second round.

   Rounding out the quartet that earned co-medalist honors was Texas’ Faith O’Keefe, a freshman home girl from Austin, Texas and No. 65 in the Women’s WAGR. O’Keefe made a birdie at the 18^th hole to complete a 1-under 70 that enabled her to finish at 5-under.

   O’Keefe had matched par in the opening round with a 71 before joining Darling in a tie for second place behind Summerhays entering the final round with a 4-under 67 in Tuesday’s second round.

   Auburn finished a shot behind Northwestern in third place with a 5-over 857 total and its SEC rival South Carolina, behind Darling, was another shot behind Auburn in fourth place with a 6-over 858 total.

   The Auburn program got a big talent upgrade when Anna Davis, the Spring Valley, Calif. kid who won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur as a 16-year-old in 2022 and is No. 12 in the Women’s WAGR, joined the Plains Tigers in time for the spring semester.

   Davis was hovering around the lead the whole tournament, but fell back a little in the final round with a 1-over 72 that left her among a group of four players tied for eighth place with a 1-under 212 total. Davis had opened with a 3-under 68 before adding a 1-over 72 in Tuesday’s second round.

   Auburn’s best finisher was Casey Weidenfeld, a redshirt sophomore from Pembroke Pines, Fla. and No. 80 in the Women’s WAGR. After opening with a 1-over 72, Weidenfeld ripped off a 4-under 67 in Tuesday’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 71 as she finished alone in sixth place with a 3-under 219 total.

   Auburn only trailed Northwestern by three shots going into the final round after the Plains Tigers matched par in the opening round with a 284 and then added a 2-under 282 in Tuesday’s second round. Auburn closed with a 7-over 291 to finish a shot behind Northwestern in third place at 5-over.

   South Carolina opened with a solid 2-under 282 and added a 6-over 290 in Tuesday’s second round before closing with a 2-over 286 to finish a shot behind Auburn in fourth place at 6-over.

   South Carolina and Auburn were right back at it a couple of days later when they teed it up in the Valspar Augusta Invitational at Forest Hills Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. By the time I started this post the Valspar was completed with South Carolina finishing in a tie for second place and Auburn ending up fourth, so a couple more strong showings against another tough field.

   I’ll get around to a roundup on the Valspar at some point this week. (Sid the Kid alert: There’s a top-10 finish at the Valspar for Michigan freshman Sidney Yermish, a two-time PIAA Class AAA champion at Lower Merion, so that’s another reason I’ll want to get to something on the Valspar).

   Meanwhile back at Hilton Head, yet another SEC entry, Arkansas, was just a shot behind South Carolina in fifth place with a 7-over 859 total. The Razorbacks matched par in the opening round with a 284 and fell back in Tuesday’s second round with an 11-over 295 before finishing up with a 4-under 280 that matched the low round for Wednesday’s windup.

   Arkansas was led by Kendall Todd, a junior from Goodyear, Ariz. who finished among the quartet tied for eighth place at 1-under 212. After matching par in the opening round with a 71, Todd fell back with a 3-over 74 before surging in the final round with a 4-under 67.

   Yet another team of Tigers from the SEC, the Bayou Tigers of LSU, finished five shots behind Arkansas in a tie for sixth place with yet another SEC entry in Georgia, and Texas, a perennial Big 12 power, each landing on 12-over 864.

   LSU opened with a 1-under 283 and added a 5-over 289 in Tuesday’s second round before closing with an 8-over 292.

   The Bayou Tigers were led by Ingrid Lindblad, a graduate student from Sweden and the No. 1 player in the Women’s WAGR, the best women’s amateur player in the world. After opening with a 4-under 67, Lindblad matched par in each of the final two rounds with a pair of 71s to finish alone in fifth place, just a shot behind the four co-medalists.

   Georgia sandwiched an even-par 284 in Tuesday’s second round with a pair of 6-over 290s.

   Texas, behind O’Keefe, matched par in the opening round with a 284 and added a 7-over 291 in Tuesday’s second round before closing with a 5-over 289. As if the SEC isn’t strong enough, Texas will be joining the fray for the 2024-’25 season.

   A shot behind the trio tied for sixth place was Atlantic Coast Conference power Duke in ninth place in the loaded 17-team field with a 13-over 865 total. The Blue Devils got off to a strong start with a 3-under 281 and added a 6-over 290 in Tuesday’s second round before finishing up with a 10-over 294.

   Arizona State’s Coulter joined her teammate Rhodes in the group tied for 12^th place at even-par 213 as Coulter finished up with a critical 1-under 70 on a day when Summerhays struggled. Coulter was solid the whole week, matching par in the opening round and adding a 1-over 72 in Tuesday’s second round.

   Arizona State’s veteran senior Ashley Menne of Surprise, Ariz. and No. 94 in the Women’s WAGR finished in the group tied for 54^th place with an 8-over 221 total. Menne marched par in the opening round with a 71 before posting back-to-back 4-over 75s in the final two rounds, the final-round 75 another crucial counter.

   Rounding out the Arizona State lineup was Paula Schulz-Hansson, a sophomore from Germany who finished alone in 75^th place with a 228 total. Schulz-Hansson struggled in the opening round with a 79 and added a counting 1-over 72 in Tuesday’s second round before closing with a 6-over 77.

   Joining Auburn’s Davis and Arkansas’ Todd in the foursome tied for eighth place at 1-under were a couple of freshmen for reigning national champion Wake Forest, Macy Pate, a home girl from Winston-Salem, N.C., and Brooke Rivers from the Turks & Caicos Islands.

   Pate opened with a solid 2-under 69 and matched par in Tuesday’s second round with a 71 before finishing up with a 1-over 72. Rivers matched par in each of the first two rounds with a pair of 71s before closing with a 1-under 70.

   The Demon Deacons, shorthanded with just four players for the Darius Rucker, finished in a tie for 10^th place with Mississippi State, another SEC entry, at 14-over 866, a shot behind Wake Forest’s ACC rival Duke.

   Duke’s top freshman, Katie Li of Basking Ridge, N.J., finished in the group tied for 54^th place with an 8-over 221 total. Li matched par in each of the first two rounds with a pair of 71s before struggling in the final round with an 8-over 79.

   Senior Phoebe Brinker, an Archmere Academy product and No. 69 in the Women’s WAGR, is wrapping up one of the great careers in Duke’s storied history. Brinker matched par in the opening round with a 71 and added a 3-over 74 before struggling to an 80 in the final round that left her among a trio of players tied for 71^st place with a 225 total.