With only 18 days to go until the 2013 U.S.
Open tees off at Merion Golf Club’s East Course in the Ardmore section of
Haverford Township on this Memorial Day weekend Sunday, a quick look back at the NCAA Women’s Tournament.
At the NCAA West
Regional, it took a miracle – a school-record 63 by freshman Kyung Kim – for
Southern Cal to edge Big Ten co-champ Purdue by a shot for the team title.
Apparently, the
Trojans took it as a wakeup call. Firing a ridiculous 12-under 276 team score
in the second round, Southern Cal took control of the NCAA Tournament that
concluded Friday on its way to a 19-under 1,133 total that bested the field by
21 shots. The 276 was a course record at the 6,372-yard, par-72 University of
Georgia Golf Course and an NCAA Tournament record.
The Trojans were
led by their two talented freshmen, eventual NCAA champion Annie Park and Kim.
They were particularly strong in that record-setting second round as Park fired
a 5-under 67 and Kim posted a 3-under 69.
Park added an opening-round
70 and rounds of 70 and 71 in the third and fourth rounds, respectively for a
10-under 278 total that gave her a six-shot victory over Duke’s Lindy Duncan. Park became just the seventh freshman in NCAA
history to win the individual title, a list that includes that Annika
Sorenstam.
Southern Cal opened
with a 284, pulled away with the second-round 276, then cooled off a little
with a third-round 285 and a final-round 288 to finish 21 shots ahead of Duncan
and Duke at 2-over 1,154. The Blue Devils went 286, 289, 287 and 292.
With the team title
out of reach, Purdue grinded out a third-place finish behind a third in the individual
race for senior Paula Reto and a really strong tie for 15th from
sophomore Aurora Kan, the three-time Daily
Times Player of the Year at Chichester.
Purdue opened with
back-to-back 289s in the first two rounds, posted a 295 in the third round and
put up a 300 in the final round for a 1,173 total that was one shot better than
UCLA, eight shots clear of Arizona St. and 10 shots ahead of Auburn. The
Boilermakers were a whopping 40 shots behind Southern Cal and 19 behind Duke,
but third place was there for the taking and they grabbed it.
Reto, the native of
Cape Town, South Africa, had rounds of 71, 73, 70 and 72 to finish alone in
third place at 2-under 286 and cap a great career at Purdue.
“I’m pretty excited
and very pleased with my team and myself,” Reto told the Purdue website. “I
think we played pretty solid for the most part. Here and there I had some up-and-down
holes, but I think I did a good job of
playing well. I just tried to be patient out there and that’s what kept me
going.”
Kan, the 2010 PIAA
and Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur champion, completed a sophomore campaign
during which she made huge strides. She opened the NCAA Tournament with
back-to-back subpar rounds, a pair of 1-under 71s. She faltered a little with a
77 in the third round before finishing up with a 1-over 73 that left her at
4-over 292 and a in a tie for 15th. That’s a tie for 15th
in an incredibly deep and talented NCAA Tournament field while trying to do the
best she could to help the Boilermakers have the highest possible team finish.
Another senior,
Lauren Gonzalez-Escallon, a native of Belgium, had rounds of 72, 73, 72 and 77
to finish in a tie for 23rd. But typical of a senior,
Gonzalez-Escallon was at her best when third place in the team standings were on the line for the
Boilermakers. She birdied the last two holes to give Purdue its one-shot edge
on UCLA for third.
Also for Purdue, redshirt
senior Kishi Sinha, a native of India, had rounds of 75,73, 77 and 79 for a 304
total that left her in a tie for 68th and freshman Margaux Vanmol,
like Gonzalez-Escallon a Belgian, had rounds of 80, 72,76 and 78 for a 306
total that left her in a tie for 80th.
All in all, a
pretty nice 2012-13 campaign for Devon Brouse’s Purdue program.
Purdue made its 14th
straight NCAA Tournament appearance and recorded its eighth straight top-10
finish on the big stage. Purdue had an individual finish third for the third
year in row and Gonzalez-Escallon and Reto played in the final group for the
fourth year in a row.
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