Kan, Purdue come up short of match-play berth

   I was there when Aurora Kan’s high school career ended at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort with a 12-foot putt for par on the second hole of a playoff with West Chester East’s Gabriella DiMarco that gave the Chichester senior the 2010 PIAA championship she had been so close to getting the two previous years.

   I almost felt like I was there Monday as Kan’s collegiate career ended at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla. with Purdue coming up a little short of making the final eight that will tee it up in match play Tuesday for the NCAA championship. The Boilermakers had their worst day of the tournament, carding a final-round 311 that gave them a 72-hole total of 1,222. That left them in 12^th place, eight shots out of the coveted top eight.

   But there was never anything close to a concession by Kan and Purdue on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Kan was the only senior on the five-woman team that Devon Brouse sent to the NCAA Tournament and some of the youngsters might have finally hit the wall in the fourth round of stroke play Monday.

    Purdue’s first three rounds of 307, 302 and 303 had put it squarely in contention to finish in the top eight. Monday’s broadcast on The Golf Channel seemed to indicate that the weather and the course setup had The Concession  layout playing its toughest in the first three rounds, particularly the first and second rounds.

   But with the scores generally lower in the final round, Purdue couldn’t sustain its momentum. The Boilermakers went 17-over on the front nine. The made just six birdies in the round, four of them by Marta Martin, the freshman from Spain who carded a final-round 76 and was Purdue’s low scorer at 13-over 301. That left her in a tie for 25^th.

   Linn Andersson, a freshman from Sweden, fell back in the final round with an 80 after she had posted a solid 1-over 73 in Sunday’s third round, a big reason Purdue had easily survived the first team cut from 24 teams to 15 for Monday’s final round. Andersson’s 305 total left her in a tie for 40^th.

    Kan capped her career with a 79 – and I think I know her well enough to know she’s not happy about it – Monday for a 72-hole total of 307 and in a tie for 45^th.

   August Kim, the sophomore from St. Augustine, Fla., also had a final-round 79 to finish at 314 and in a tie for 61^st. Anna Appert Lund, a junior from Sweden, had Purdue’s second-best score of the day Monday, a 77, and finished in a tie for 63^rd at 315.

   Purdue finished 30 shots back of the team qualifying medalist, Southern Cal, which went 297, 303, 398 and 294 for a 1,192 total. Defending national champion Duke, winner of the South Bend regional Purdue was in, was five shots behind the Trojans at 1,197.

   So maybe Purdue was a notch below those teams, but match play is a whole different animal and I’m certain the Boilermakers would have backed down from nobody in match play.

   Did catch the brilliant approach shot out of a fairway bunker on the 18^th hole by Alabama’s Emma Talley that gave her the individual title. The daily weather delay in Bradenton forced Talley to wait an hour to make her 10-foot birdie putt, but she got it done to add an NCAA individual crown to the U.S. Women’s Amateur title she won two years ago at the Country Club of Charleston in South Carolina.

    Talley’s effort was not good enough to get the Tide into the final eight for match play. Alabama finished four shots behind Purdue in 14^th place at 1,226.

   Also missing the cut was Wake Forest, which finished between Purdue and Alabama in 13^th place at 1,224. Wake Forest freshman Erica Herr, who won the next two PIAA crowns following Kan’s 2010 title while at Council Rock North, struggled at the tough Concession layout with rounds of 82, 81, 81 and 82 to finish in a tie for 108^th. That will only make her more determined to get better.

   Kan had quite a four years at Purdue, which was coming off an NCAA championship in 2010 and a runnerup finish in nationals in 2011 when she arrived in the fall of 2011. She was the freshman then as a very good Purdue team finished ninth.

   Kan’s high-water mark was probably her sophomore season when the Boilermakers finished third at the NCAA Tournament and she finished tied for 15^th in the individual standings.

   But something tells me she might be most proud of this team. Coming off a disappointing season in which the Boilermakers failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament as a team, Kan helped to restore Purdue to its rightful spot among the top programs in the country.

   Overlooked by pollsters all season, probably because of its relative youth, there was Purdue on the last day of stroke play with a real shot at making the field of eight for match play as the NCAA opted for match play to determine the women’s champion for the first time.

   They’re disappointed because they were right there with 18 holes to go and it slipped away. But to finish 12^th after never cracking the top 30 in anybody’s rankings all season isn’t bad. The other four Purdue players who were in Bradenton will all be back next year with a valuable year of experience behind them.

   When the Boilermakers improve next year, Kan can take pride in knowing she played a role in helping some of those youngsters grow a little this season.