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Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Penn State finishes strong to end up ninth in UCF Challenge as Vanderbilt takes title


   If Penn State earns a trip to an NCAA Regional as a team this spring, it may look back to Tuesday’s final round of the UCF Challenge at Eagle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, Fla. as a turning point in the Nittany Lions’ bid to reach that goal.
   After a solid opening round Sunday – the first round of the spring portion of the 2018-’19 season -- had left Penn State tied for eighth in the strong 16-team field, the Nittany Lions took a step back in Monday’s second round.
   They fell back to 12th with a 4-over 292 over the 6,349-yard, par-72 Eagle Creek layout. Penn State’s best player, senior Cara Basso, a Villa Maria Academy product, had struggled to a 77. Sarah Willis, the freshman from Eaton, Ohio who had a startling, bust-out individual victory in last fall’s Nittany Lion Invitational, had struggled to a 78.
   Penn State had entered the spring campaign ranked 39th by Golfstat and, from what I can tell, those Golfstat rankings matter when it comes time to extend NCAA Regional bids. There’s still a lot of golf to be played this spring, but somehow it seemed the Nittany Lions had arrived at a crossroads, right in the middle of the first tournament of the spring.
   Consider the challenge answered. With Basso and Willis each firing a 3-under 69, the Nittany Lions had four sub-par rounds in equaling the best team score of the day, an 8-under 280. It gave Penn State a 6-under 858 total and a ninth-place finish.
   The Nittany Lions ended up just two shots behind the top Big Ten finisher, No. 29 Purdue in sixth, and one shot behind two-time reigning Big Ten champion Michigan State, which is ranked 30th and finished tied for seventh.
   Penn State needed to dig deep and did so. It needed to prove to itself that it can compete with some of the Big Ten heavyweights and it did so. It needed something to build on rather than something that created doubt and it did that, too.
   The team that came to Orlando with the highest Golfstat ranking, No. 6 Vanderbilt, lived up to its billing, finishing up with a 7-under 281 to pull away for an eight-shot victory with a 23-under 841 total.
   No. 27 Miami had crept within a shot of the Commodores after two rounds, but the Hurricanes could only match par with a final-round 288 that left them with a share of second with No. 10 Kent State at 15-under 849. The Golden Flashes, who have made it to the final eight in match play at the NCAA Championship each of the last two springs, matched Penn State for the low round of the day with an 8-under 280 to get their piece of second.
   Upstart Old Dominion, ranked 61st, carded a 7-under 281 for an 11-under 853 total and a solid fourth-place finish. No. 37 Kennesaw State matched par in the final round with a 288, but had a solid three days in Orlando, finishing alone in fifth at 9-under 855.
   Purdue was next, the Boilermakers, a perennial Big Ten and national power, posting a 1-under 287 to finish sixth at 8-under 856.
   Big Ten power Michigan State carded a 1-over 289 in the final round to get a share of seventh place with No. 54 Iowa State at 7-under 857. The Cyclones, out of the powerful Big 12, finished up with a solid 4-under 284.
   It was one more shot back to Penn State in ninth. The Nittany Lions were led by senior stalwart Jackie Rogowicz, a two-time PIAA runnerup at Pennsbury. Rogowicz completed a solid three days with a 1-under 71 that left her among the group tied for 12th at 4-under 212.
   Junior Megan McLean, a Voorhees High product, had her second straight 1-under 71 and ended up among the group tied for 20th at 2-under 214.
   The clutch 3-under 69 by Basso, who represented the Blue & White as an individual in the NCAA Madison Regional last spring, enabled her to finish in the group tied for 42nd at 2-over 218. The bounce-back 69 by Willis moved her into a tie for 60th at 4-over 220.
   Senior Lauren Waller, the Canon-McMillan product who has been there every step of the way with Rogowicz and Basso the last three-plus years, finished up with a 3-over 75 to join the group tied for 63rd at 5-over 221.
   Penn State head coach Denise St. Pierre took junior Madelein Herr, the District One Class AAA champion as a senior at Council Rock North, along to Orlando to compete as an individual and compete she did. Herr carded a 1-under 71 in the final round to finish among the group tied for 33rd at 1-over 217.
   Kamerine Taylor, a senior from Dublin, Ohio, also competed as an individual for Penn State and struggled to a final-round 82 to finish in the group tied for 94th at 234.
   Leading the way for Vanderbilt was Auston Kim, a freshman from St. Augustine, Fla. who carded a solid 2-under 70 in the final round to finish in a tie for second in the individual standings at 10-under 206, a shot behind the individual champion, Miami’s Anna Backman, a freshman from Finland. Kim is the younger sister of August Kim, who was the 2016 Big Ten champion as a junior at Purdue and is playing professionally on the Symetra Tour.
   Backing up Kim for the Commodores was Courtney Zeng, a senior from Orlando, Fla. playing not far from home. Zeng posted a 1-under 71 in the final round and was one of four players tied for fifth at 7-under 209.
   The best round of the day for Vanderbilt was turned in by Morgan Baxendale, a sophomore from Windermere, Fla. who fired a 3-under 69 that left her among the group tied for 15th at 3-under 213. Abbey Carlson, a junior from Lake Mary, Fla., gave Vanderbilt a fourth sub-par round Tuesday as she finished up with a 1-under 71 that left her in the group tied for 33rd at 1-over 217.
   Vanderbilt had the luxury of tossing the even-par 72 posted by Louise Yu, a sophomore from Duluth, Ga. Yu contributed a 1-under 71 to the 11-under 277 Vanderbilt put up in the second round that really separated the Commodores from the pack this week. Yu ended up among the group tied for 49th at 3-over 219.
   Vanderbilt will have its hands full in the tough Southeastern Conference, but the Commodores certainly look like the real deal.
   Miami’s Backman had surged into the lead with a scintillating 7-under 65 in the second round and a final round of 2-under 70 enabled her to hold off Vanderbilt’s Kim and Kent State’s Karoline Stormo, a junior from Norway, for the title as Backman finished with an 11-under 205 total.
   Stormo had the low round of the day Tuesday with a 5-under 67 that earned her a share of runnerup honors with Kim at 10-under 206.
   Michigan State’s Allyson Geer-Park, a junior from Brighton, Mich., finished alone in fourth at 8-under 208 after finishing up with a 2-under 70. Geer-Park is one of those players who hardly ever seems to play a really bad round.
   Geer-Park’s teammate, Yunika Tanida, a sophomore from Japan, fired a 4-under 68 to join the foursome that included Vanderbilt’s Zeng tied for fifth at 7-under 209.
   Rounding out that foursome were Purdue’s Micaela Farah, a junior from Peru, and Old Dominion’s Charlotte De Corte, a senior from Belgium. Farah finished up with a 1-under 71 while De Corte carded a solid 2-under 70.
   Alone in ninth after a final round of 1-under 71 was host UCF’s Elizabeth Moon, a freshman from Forrest City, Ark. who ended up at 6-under 210.
   I ended a post on the 2017 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at Boone Valley Golf Club in Augusta, Mo. by saying I’d be rooting for Moon. She needed a three-foot putt for birdie on the 19th hole of her semifinal match with Erica Sheppard to reach the final.
   Not only did Moon miss the putt, she had the natural reaction of reaching for the ball with her putter and bringing it back to putt it again. Problem was she did it so fast, Sheppard never got a chance to concede the tap-in for par. A match that appeared headed for the 20th hole was over and Sheppard went on to win the championship.
   It’s good to see Moon playing some good golf and UCF certainly has itself a player as she demonstrated  this week at Eagle Creek.





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