Aurora Kan, the 2010 PIAA champion as a senior at
Chichester, and the Purdue Boilermakers put together an outstanding two days at
the Dallas Athletic Club/Southern Methodist University Invitational that
concluded Saturday.
Kan, a senior, had probably the best day of her career at
Purdue Friday as she surged to the top of the leaderboard with nine birdies while
shooting rounds of 1-under 71 and 2-under 70 for a 3-under 141 total over the
par-72 Dallas Athletic Club layout.
Perhaps inspired by Kan’s first-day heroics, August Kim, a
sophomore from Florida, who only trailed her teammate by three shots after two
rounds, fired a final-round 71 Saturday for a 1-under 215 total and then won
the individual title by defeating Kansas’ Yupaporn Kawinpakorn on the second
hole of a playoff.
Kan fell back a little in the final round with a 4-over 76,
but still finished fourth overall in an outstanding field with a 1-over 217
total.
More importantly, the Boilermakers, who entered the event
ranked 42nd by Golfweek and
36th by Golfstat, finished second in the team chase behind
frontrunning Oklahoma St. Purdue had rounds of 290 and 291 sandwiched around a
second-round 302 for an 883 total. Oklahoma State had rounds of 293, 286 and
296 for an 875 total.
The rest of Purdue’s first five wasn’t bad either. Marta
Martin Garcia, a freshman from Spain, sandwiched a pair of 73s around a
second-round 80 for a 226 total that left her in a tie for 23rd.
Rounding out the lineup were two of the Boilermakers’ three Swedes with junior Anna
Appert Lund (75-80-73) finishing in a tie for 33rd at 228 and senior
Johanna Tillstrom (79-79-74) finishing in a tie for 42nd at 232.
Purdue appears to be right on schedule for a strong
postseason as the Boilermakers head for the Big Ten Tournament April 24 in
Indianapolis.
One of Kan’s scholastic rivals – indeed one of the two
players she beat in a playoff for that 2010 PIAA title – former West Chester
East standout Gabby DiMarco teed it up for Kansas. DiMarco, like Kan a senior,
had rounds of 75, 81 and 88 to finish 72nd at 245. The Jayhawks
(304-298-311), led by individual runnerup Kawinpakorn, finished eighth at 913.
No comments:
Post a Comment