Look for the ranking for Aurora Kan, the 2010 PIAA champion
as a senior at Chichester, and the Purdue women’s golf team to be headed up
after two sensational weeks for the Boilermakers.
Purdue was ranked No. 44 in the country entering this
weekend’s Liz Murphy Collegiate Classic at the University of Georgia Golf
Course in Athens, Georgia and proceeded to knock off three top-25 teams and
claim the Black Bracket title.
The collegiate women have joined their male counterparts and
their NCAA Tournament will ultimately be contested at match play after medal
play to determine the individual champion and team qualifying for match play. So
it makes sense to stage a match-play event like this to prepare the top teams
for what may await when it comes time to determine a national champion.
Kan, a three-time Daily
Times Player of the Year at Chichester, helped the Boilermakers clinch the
Black Bracket title Sunday as she battled back from an early deficit to claim a 2 and 1 victory over
Stanford’s Lauren Kim that secured a 3-2 victory for Purdue over the 14th-ranked
Cardinal.
With the match all square with three holes to play, Kan
dropped in a 20-foot birdie putt on the seventh hole and then made par on eight
to close out Lauren Kim.
The win capped a weekend of strong play up and down the
Purdue lineup.
Against Stanford, Marta Martin, the rapidly improving
freshman from Spain, completed a 3-0 weekend with a 4 and 3 victory over Casey
Danielson. Anna Appert Lund, the junior from Sweden who is on a serious roll
the last couple of weeks, also claimed a 4 and 3 victory over Mariah Stackhouse, a member of the U.S. Curtis Cup team last
year.
Saturday, Martin claimed a 3 and 2 victory over Kelli Murphy
to lead the Boilermakers to a 3-2 victory over 22nd-ranked Auburn
and came back with a 4 and 3 win over Cammie Gray to highlight Purdue’s 3-2 win
over 21st-ranked Alabama, which has been one of the top programs in
the country in recent years.
Purdue’s other winners against Auburn were the Boilermakers’
two Swedes, with Appert Lund knocking off Jamie Yun, 4 and 3, and Johanna
Tillstrom, a senior, claiming a 4 and 3 victory over Victoria Trapani.
Kan, the senior leader for Purdue, bounced back from a 3 and
2 loss to Auburn’s Alex Harrell to claim a 6 and 5 victory over Alabama’s Mia
Landegren. Sophomore August Kim got Purdue’s other match win over the Tide, a 5
and 4 decision over Nicole Morales.
Appert Lund’s match with Emma Talley was called after 14
holes since it didn’t affect the team outcome, but Appert Lund was only 2-down
to the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion.
The event began with a qualifying round and Purdue earned
its spot in the Black Bracket with a 318 total and a ninth-place finish in
tough conditions.
Martin showed she was ready to play as she carded a 2-over
74 to finish sixth in a field that included many of the top individual players
in the country. Kan’s 79 was Purdue’s second-best total, followed by an 81 by
August Kim, an 84 by Appert Lund and an 86 for Tillstrom.
Appert Lund arrived in Athens as the reigning Big Ten Player
of the Week coming off a brilliant performance at the Mountainview Collegiate,
hosted by Missouri and Kansas St. at the Mountainview Golf Club in Tucson,
Arizona.
Appert Lund finished in a tie for second in the individual
standings with a pair of 72s sandwiching a sizzling 6-under 66 in the middle
round for a 6-under 210 total. It was the 10th-best 54-hole effort
in Purdue’s history. Florida International’s
Meghan MacLaren took medalist honors as
she was a shot better than Appert Lund at 7-under 209.
Appert Lund also led Purdue to one of the strongest team
showings in school history as the Boilermakers put together rounds of 292, 283
and 289 for an even-par 864 total that gave them a share of third place with
co-host Kansas St. Big Ten rival Ohio St. took team honors with an 8-under 856
total followed by runnerup Florida International at 3-under 861.
Appert Lund’s showing overshadowed one of the strongest
tournaments in Kan’s four years at Purdue. The 2010 Pennsylvania Women’s
Amateur champion finished seventh with rounds of 73, 70 and 69 for a 4-under
212 total.
Martin (73-71-77) and August Kim (74-76-71) landed on the same
5-over 221 figure as they ended up in a tie for 40th. Tillstrom had
rounds of 77, 76 and 77 for a 230 total that left her in a tie for 83rd.
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