With senior Sarah Burnham of Maple Grove, Minn. leading the
way, Michigan State, No. 12 in the latest Golfstat
rankings, surged past upstart Maryland to its second straight Big Ten team
crown in Sunday’s final round at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio.
Burnham fired a 2-under-par70 over the 6,357-yard, par-72
TPC River’s Bend layout to help the Spartans card a 2-over 290 that gave them a
5-under 859 total and a four-shot edge over the No. 73 Terrapins and No. 26
Illinois, which came on strong to gain a share of second.
Maryland, which took a one-shot edge over Michigan State
into the final round, carded a 7-over 295 to finish at 1-under 863. The
Fighting Illini fired a 7-under 281 to join Maryland at 863.
I’m thinking Illinois was at least somewhat motivated to try
to finish ahead of in-state rival Northwestern, ranked 13th and the
runnerup in the NCAA Championship a year ago. The Wildcats responded to the
challenge with the an 8-under 280, tied for the low team round of the
tournament, to get a share of fourth at 1-over 865.
No. 45 Ohio State, led by the spectacular performance by individual
champion Jaclyn Lee, a senior from Canada, shared fourth with Northwestern after a final round of
6-over 294. A veteran Purdue team, ranked 22nd, had a solid
final round of 1-over 289 to finish
sixth at 3-over 867.
Led by junior Cara Basso, the 2012 PIAA Class AA champion as
a sophomore at Villa Maria Academy, No. 69 Penn State surged up the team
leaderboard with a 4-under 284 to finish eighth at 23-over 887. It was the kind
of performance that Denise St. Pierre’s team, comprised of some of
Pennsylvania’s top scholastic standouts of recent years, always seemed capable
of, but rarely delivered.
Burnham’s final-round 70 earned her her second straight
runnerup performance as she shared second with Maryland’s Xiaolin Tian, a
sophomore from Mongolia, at 5-under 211, four shots behind Lee.
The other two members of the Spartans’ top three, Allyson
Geer, a sophomore from Brighton, Mich., and Katie Sharp, a redshirt senior from
Kendalville, Ind., also came up big all weekend.
Geer got a share of fourth place with Penn State’s Basso and
Northwestern’s Janet Mao, a junior from Johns Creek, Ga., at 4-under 212 after
a final round of 1-over 73. Sharp matched par in the final round with a 72 to
finish in the group tied for 12th at 3-over 219.
Paz Marfa Sans, a sophomore form Spain, finished in the
group tied for 34th at 223 after a final-round 77, Yurika Tanida, a
freshman from Japan, was nothing if not consistent with a third straight 75
that left her among the group tied for 40th at 225, and Catherine
McEvoy, a sophomore from Greenwich, Conn., had her best round of the weekend, a
3-over 75, to finish tied for 75th at 238.
Lee didn’t have to do too much after sprinting to a
five-shot lead with respective rounds of 66 and 68 Friday and Saturday. Her
1-over 73 left her with a 9-under 207 total. Lee is the 14th Buckeye
to be crowned Big Ten individual champion.
Maryland’s Tian matched par in the final round with a 72 to
get her share of second with Burnham at 5-under 211.
Basso, who won the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia
Match-Play Championship last summer, had surged into contention with a
career-best 5-under 67 in Saturday’s second round. She again bettered par with
a 2-under 70 in the final round to get a share of fourth with Geer and Mao at
4-under 212.
Mao had the best round of the day, a sizzling 6-under 66
that matched the low individual round of the tournament, to surge into the top
five.
Minnesota’s Sabrine Garrison, a senior from Canada, also finished
strong, firing a 3-under 69 to end up alone in seventh at 3-under 213.
Basso’s 70 was not the low round of the day for Penn State
as junior Jackie Rogowicz, a two-time PIAA Class AAA runnerup at Pennsbury,
suddenly found her groove and fired a 4-under 68, a big key to the Nittany
Lions’ under-par team round. That moved her into the group tied for 49th
at 228.
Rogowicz had struggled to an 83 in the opening round and
added a 77 in Saturday’s second round. Something obviously clicked for
Rogowicz, who is much closer as a player to that final-round 68 than she is to
that opening-round 83.
Junior Lauren Waller, the 2014 PIAA Class AAA runnerup as a
senior at Canon-McMillan, was Penn State’s second-best finisher overall as she closed
with a 1-over 73 to join the group tied for 30th at 222.
Sophomore Madelein Herr, the 2015 District One Class AAA
champion as a senior at Council Rock North, also found her game in the final
round as a 1-over 73 left her in the group tied for 62nd at 232.
Kamerine Taylor, a junior from Dublin, Ohio, finished in the
group tied for 65th at 233 with a final-round 76 and sophomore Megan
McLean, a Voorhees High product, rounded out the Penn State contingent, posting
a 77 that left her in the group tied for72nd at 236.
Purdue’s solid finish was led, as it often has been this
season, by Inez Wanamarta, a freshman from Indonesia who carded a final round
of 3-under 69 to join the group tied for 12th at 1-under 215.
Teammate Covadonga SanJuan, a junior from Spain, was also in that group at 215
as she finished up with a 1-under 71.
Ida Ayu Indira Melati Putri, a junior from Indonesia, had a
final round of 2-over 74 to finish in the group tied for 15th at
even-par 216. Marta Martin, the Boilermakers’ veteran senior from Spain, joined
the group tied for 30th at 222 with a final-round 76.
Micaela Farah, a sophomore from Peru, delivered Purdue’s
final counter Sunday with a 3-over 75 that left her among the group tied for 46th
at 227. Lauren Guiao, a freshman from Evansville, Ind., rounded out the Purdue
contingent with a 79 that left her in a tie for 65th at 233.
Purdue will certainly hear its name called when the NCAA
regional bids are announced Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. on The Golf Channel. I’ll be
surprised if this battle-tested group doesn’t make it through whatever regional
it ends up in and reaches the NCAA Championship at Karsten Creek Golf Club in
Stillwater, Okla.
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