Henkel claims individual title, leads Delaware to CAA team crown and an NCAA regional berth

 

   In its farewell to the Coastal Athletic Association, Delaware rallied in the final round last Sunday to captured the conference championship and earn a spot in an NCAA regional.

   Delaware will leave the CAA after this spring and join Conference USA beginning in late summer. But the Blue Hens went out as a winner, carding a final round of 4-over-par 292, the best team round of the weekend, for a 45-over 909 total in difficult conditions at The Reserve Club at St. James Plantation in Southport, N.C.

   That gave Delaware a four-shot victory over two-time defending champion College of Charleston and North Carolina-Wilmington.

   The 10-team field battled fierce winds in the opening round April 12 and again in the second round April 13 before things calmed down a little last Sunday with the arrival of some more springlike weather.

   Delaware was led by Lilia Henkel, a junior from Grand Rapids, Mich. who claimed the individual title in a playoff with College of Charleston’s Viktoria Hund, a senior from Germany, in a playoff.

   Henkel birdied the 18^th hole to finish off a 1-over 73 over the 6,013-yard, par-73 Reserve Club layout that gave her a 7-over 223 total and clinched the team crown for Delaware. It also forced the playoff with Hund, who had posted a 4-under 68 in the final round that matched the best individual round of the weekend, to also finish with a 7-over total.

   The pair returned to the 18^th hole and Henkel got it up and down from a bunker to capture the title. Hund was the individual runnerup for the second year in a row.

   Delaware had recorded a 312 in an opening round that saw The Reserve Club buffeted by high winds. The Blue Hens added a 305 in the second round and entered the final round trailing UNCW by five shots.

   But behind Henkel’s closing 73 and a timely 4-under 68 by senior Christina Carroll, a Delaware kid out of William Penn High, in the final round, the Blue Hens surged to their third CAA crown (it was the Colonial Athletic Association until this season) in their final season in the league.

   Delaware awaits its NCAA regional assignment, which will be revealed on a selection show aired by The Golf Channel Wednesday.

   Henkel, like most of the field, struggled in the opening round with a 79, but bounced back with a 1-under 71 in the second round that gave her a share of the individual lead with UNCW’s Malu Brinker, a junior from Germany, and Campbell’s Alicia Olsson, a freshman from Sweden, going into the final round.

   UNCW held the team lead going into the final round as the Seahawks added a 304 in the second round to their opening-round 308. UNCW’s final round gave it a 49-over 913 total that left the Seahawks four shots behind Delaware.

   UNCW was led by Mallory Fobes, a fifth-year player from East Bend, N.C., and Brinker, who finished in third and fourth place, respectively, in the individual standings.

   Fobes added a 4-over 76 to her opening-round 79 before closing with a 1-over 73 that gave her a 9-over 225 and left her two shots behind Henkel and Hund.

   Brinker’s 2-over 74 matched the low round of the wind-blown opening round and she added a 76 to get a share of the lead going into the final round. Brinker closed with another 76 to finish a shot behind her teammate Fobes with a 10-over 226 total.

   Behind Hund, the College of Charleston added a 310 in the second round to its opening-round 309. The Cougars staged a furious rally in the final round with a 6-over 294 that left them in a tie for second place with UNVW at 49-over.

   Hund trailed the three co-leaders by five shots entering Sunday’s final round as she added a 79 in the second round to her opening round of 4-over 76. But she zoomed up the leaderboard with her final-round 68 to force the playoff with Henkel at 7-over.

   Campbell, which joined the CAA this season, finished another 12 shots behind UNCW and College of Charleston in fourth place with a 61-over 925 total as the Camels added a 309 in the second round to their opening-round 312 before closing with a 304.

   Elon finished 12 shots behind Campbell in fifth place in the 10-team field with a 73-over 937 total. After opening with a 318, the Phoenix added a 315 in the second round before finishing up with a 304.

   Delaware got crucial contributions up and down the lineup, the kind of clutch performances that win team titles in golf.

   Alisa Khokhlova, a senior from Russia, gave the Blue Hens a second finisher in the top six as she sandwiched an 80 in the second round with a pair of solid 2-over 78s that enabled her to finish in sixth place with a 228 total.

   Freshman Marissa Malosh, a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier during a standout scholastic career at South Fayette, battled the whole weekend, adding a pair of 5-over 77s in the final two rounds to her opening-round 79, all of them counters, as she finished in a tie for 12^th place with a 233 total.

   And then there was Carroll. Largely a product of the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour, Carroll represented Delaware in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles.

   Carroll struggled in the opening round with an 86 and her game still wasn’t quite there when she tallied an 80 in the second round. But when the Blue Hens needed her most, Carroll delivered with a sparkling final-round 68 that left her in the group tied for 14^th place with a 234 total.

   Delaware’s veteran senior from Spain, Oihana Etxezarreta, added a 5-over 77 in the second round to an opening-round 80, both important counters, before closing with another 80 that left her in a tie for 23^rd place with a 237 total.

   Campbell’s Olsson had a share of the lead going into the final round as she added a 2-over 74 in the second round to her opening-round 76. Olsson closed with a 77 to finish a shot behind UNCW’s Brinker in fifth place with an 11-over 227 total.

   Elon’s Apple Ngamwong, a senior from Thailand, and College of Charleston’s Emma Schimpf, a junior from Daniel Island, S.C., finished in a tie for seventh place, each ending up two shots behind Delaware’s Khokhlova at 230.

   Ngamwong closed with a solid 2-over 74 after registering back-to-back 78s in the first two rounds. After opening with a 4-over 76, Schimpf struggled a little in the second round with an 80 before closing with a solid 2-over 74.

   Schimpf’s teammate, Emily Dunlap, a graduate student from Greenville, S.C., gave College of Charleston a third finisher inside the top nine as she ended up alone in ninth place with a 231 total. Dunlap bounced back from an opening-round 80 with a 2-over 74 in the second round before closing with a 77.

   Nicole Adam, a senior from Pinehurst, N.C., gave UNCW a third top-10 finisher as she landed in a tie for 10^th place with Campbell’s Isabella Hahne, a sophomore from Sweden, at 232.

   After opening with a 4-over 76, Adam posted back-to-back 78s in the final two rounds. Hahne opened with a 7-over 79 and added an 81 in the second round before matching par in the final round with a 72.