Wake Forest’s Jennifer Kupcho reasserted her status as one
of the best players in Division I golf and North Carolina State emerged from a
tight pack for an impressive team victory as the 2017-2018 season teed off in
the Ocean Course Invitational hosted by the College of Charleston at Kiawah
Island’s Ocean Course in Kiawah Island, S.C.
Four Atlantic Coast Conference teams were chasing
Mississippi out of the Southeast Conference following a Labor Day double round
with only six shots separating first from fifth place.
And the Wolfpack got the job done in Tuesday’s windup,
posting a solid 2-over 294 for a 54-hole total of 5-over 881. That left them
three shots clear of ACC rival Florida State, which closed with a 299 for an
8-over 884 total.
Reigning SEC champion Florida also had a final-round 299 and
finished tied for third with the ACC’s Wake Forest, which posted a final-round
302, at 16-over 892, eight shots behind the third-place Gators.
Former Radnor High standout Brynn Walker and North Carolina
didn’t play badly, but struggled just enough on the windswept links on a
barrier island in coastal South Carolina, site of the 2012 PGA Championship
and, probably more famously, the 1991 Ryder Cup, to post a final-round 306 and
finish tied for fifth with Ole Miss and Tennessee, making it four ACC teams and
three SEC teams in the top seven.
Ole Miss, which led by one at even-par 584 after Monday’s
double round, fell back with a 309 Tuesday while Tennessee made up 10 shots on
the Rebels with a final-round 299.
Kupcho, a junior from Westminster, Colo., ran away with the
individual title adding a 3-under-par 70 over the 6,109-yard, par-73 Island
Course to her Monday rounds of 69 and 68 for a 12-under 207 total that was
seven shots clear of the field.
Kupcho lost an NCAA individual championship at Rich Harvest
Farms last spring in heartbreaking fashion when her approach at the
next-to-lost hole found the water in front of the green. She finished tied for
second, but for 53 holes in mostly horrible weather, she was the best player.
It looks like that disappointment has only hardened her resolve.
North Carolina State got three top-10 finishes to fuel its
team success led by a runnerup finish by Laura Kowohl, a junior from Germany.
Kowohl’s 4-under 69 Tuesday was the best round of the day and enabled her to finish
at 5-under 214. She was seven shots behind Kupcho, but bested the rest of a
pretty strong group.
India Clyburn, a junior from England, and Naomi Ko, a junior
from Canada, finished tied for sixth at 1-under 218 for the Wolfpack. Clyburn
had a final-round 73 while Ko carded a 1-under 72 Tuesday.
Also for the Wolfpack, Crystal Huang, a redshirt junior from
China, finished tied for 51st at 233 and Cecily Overbey, a senior
from High Point, N.C., was tied for 69th at 243. Overbey’s
final-round 80 was an important final counter for the Wolfpack while Huang
finished up with an 82.
Mississippi State’s Aubree Jones, a freshman from Covington,
Tenn., and Ole Miss’ Conner Beth Ball, a freshman from Madison, Miss., shared
third place in the individual standings at 4-under 215. Jones, who had the best
round of the tournament, a 7-under 66 in Monday’s afternoon round, finished up
with a 76 Tuesday while Ball, who opened with a 5-under 68 Monday morning, had
a final-round 75.
Florida’s Elin Esborn, a redshirt freshman from Sweden,
finished alone in fifth place at 2-under 217. Esborn had a solid 1-under 72
Tuesday.
North Carolina’s top four players all finished among the top
25, although I’m sure they all felt they could have been a couple of shots
better.
The Tar Heels were led by Ava Bergner, a freshman from
Germany who finished tied for 10th at 1-over 220. Although she
struggled a little in the final round with a 77, it was an impressive
collegiate debut for Bergner and gives North Carolina a solid addition to the
trio of players who helped the Tar Heels reach the NCAA Championship last
spring and come within a shot of joining the party for match play at Rich
Harvest Farms.
That trio includes Kelly Whaley, a junior from Farmington,
Conn. who had a 75 in the final round to finish 15th at 3-over 222,
Walker, Radnor’s two-time PIAA Class AAA champion who had a final-round 78 to
finish 18th at 5-over 224, and Bryana Nguyen, a senior from
Columbia, Md. who had a final-round 76 to finish tied for 22nd at
8-over 227.
Clementia Rodriguez, a junior from Venezuela and a member of
Washington’s 2015 NCAA championship team, had a final-round 81 and finished
tied for 67th at 242. Competing as an individual, Mariana Ocano, a
sophomore from St. Petersburg, Fla., had a 78 in Tuesday’s final round and
finished tied for 43rd at 230.
At this time last year, Wake Forest had the look of a
national power. The Demon Deacons were adding two of the four semifinalists in
the 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur, Mathilda Cappeliez of France and Sierra Brooks
of Sorrento, Fla. to a program that already had Kupcho and senior Sierra Sims
of Austin, Texas.
But Cappeliez left the program and headed back to France
midway through last season and Brooks wasn’t far behind her. Injuries were a
problem for Brooks and she decided to quit the program and begin her pursuit of
a professional career.
In the middle of all this was Erica Herr, a two-time PIAA
champion at Council Rock North. The word I got last spring was that Herr had
joined the walking wounded with an undiagnosed elbow injury. Wake Forest had
received an invitation to the NCAA Athens Regional based mostly on its
performance in the fall of last year.
The way I understand it, if the team had withdrawn from the
team competition at Athens, Kupcho would have been ineligible to compete at the
NCAA Championship even if she qualified individually. Herr gutted out a
final-round 85 with one arm that enabled Wake Forest to post a team score.
Kupcho was the individual medalist at Athens and went on to nearly capture the
NCAA title.
I never did hear how Herr’s injury turned out. She is listed
on the Wake Forest roster for her senior year, but was not in the lineup at the
Ocean Course. Hopefully, she’ll be able to get back on the course at some point
during her senior year.
Another of the Demon Deacons’ injury victims last year was
Antonia Eberhard, a junior from Germany who kept trying to fight through a
nagging chest muscle problem. Eberhard had rounds of 82 and 80 Monday, but was
unable to come back and tee it up for Tuesday’s final round. I don’t know if
it’s the same issue, but Eberhard is a nice player when she’s healthy.
So, through all of that, Wake Forest finished tied for third
Tuesday. Freshman Emilia Migliaccio, a star on the American Junior Golf
Association circuit from Cary, N.C., and Siyun Liu, a sophomore from China,
finished tied for eighth at even-par 219. Migliaccio had solid rounds of 72, 74
and 73 and Liu sandwiched a 3-under 71 in the middle round with a pair of 74s.
Mai Dechathipat, a junior from Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. who
transferred to Winston-Salem from Auburn, finished 81st at 255. With
Eberhard out for Tuesday’s final round, Dechathipat’s 85 had to count.
But hey, if Kupcho’s going to keep shooting 12-under, the
Demon Deacons will still be tough, especially if Eberhard and Herr can get
healthy.
No comments:
Post a Comment