You could spend a lot of time talking about the people who
didn’t tee it up in the Silverado Showdown, which wrapped up Tuesday at the
Silverado Resort & Spa in Napa, Calif.
But let’s give credit where credit is due. The three top
finishers in the team standings in the Silverado Showdown were all among the
eight teams still standing when match play commenced in last spring’s NCAA
Championship at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.
And the one of those three that came out on top in Wine Country
was Northwestern, ranked No. 16 in the latest Golfstat rankings, behind individual champion Brooke Riley, a
junior from Manteca, Calif. The team rankings have changed since the Silverado
Showdown was completed and I’ll try to indicate any movements that occurred,
but in the case of Northwestern, runnerup Southern California and third-place
finisher Stanford, the rankings were unchanged.
It looks like the 6,120-yard, par-72 Silverado layout was
playing tough, which is just as well with conference championships looming. The
Wildcats carded a 3-over 291 in Sunday’s opening round and added a 3-under 285
in Monday’s second round before closing with a 6-over 294 Tuesday for a 6-over
870 total.
No. 1 Southern Cal fell 12 shots behind Northwestern with a
9-over 297 in the second round before the Trojans closed with a 2-under 286.
But they fell four shots short of Northwestern and settled for second with a
10-over 874.
No. 4 Stanford was typically consistent, sandwiching a
5-over 293 in Monday’s second round with a pair of 6-over 294s as the Cardinal
finished third at 17-over 881, seven shots behind their Pac-12 rival Southern
Cal and 11 shots behind perennial Big Ten power Northwestern.
The scary thing, of course, is that Southern Cal was the
runnerup despite missing three members of its starting lineup who were playing
in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship – Allisen
Corpuz, a junior from Honolulu, Hawaii and No. 41 in the Women’s World Amateur
Golf Ranking (WAGR), Alyaa Abdulghany, a sophomore from Newport Beach, Calif.,
and Jennifer Chang, a sophomore from Cary, N.C. and No. 26 in the Women’s WAGR.
And Stanford was missing two of its stalwarts, juniors
Andrea Lee of Hermosa Beach, Calif. and No. 3 in the Women’s WAGR, who was also
in Georgia for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, and Albane Valenzuela of
Switzerland and No. 5 in the Women’s WAGR, who made the cut and played the
weekend in the ANA Inspiration, the first LPGA major championship of the season
on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho
Mirage, Calif.
More on them later. Oregon closed with a 3-over 291 to
finish three shots behind Stanford at 20-over 884, an effort that improved the
Ducks’ ranking from No. 24 to No. 21. Washington, like Southern Cal, like
Stanford and like Oregon, a Pac-12 entry, was two shots behind the Ducks in
fifth place at 22-over 886 after a final round of 4-over 292. The Huskies, the
2015-’16 national champions, moved up from No. 25 to No. 23 after the Silverado
Showdown.
San Jose State was another two shots behind Washington in
sixth place, closing with a 299 for a 24-over 888 total. The Spartans jumped
from No. 32 to No. 27 in the rankings in the aftermath of the Silverado
Showdown.
California made it five Pac-12 teams in the top seven as the
Bears put together the best team round of the tournament, a sparkling 6-under
282, in the final round to finish seventh in the 18-team field at 27-over 891,
three shots behind San Jose State. Cal moved up one spot from No. 45 to No. 44
following its strong showing in Wine Country.
OK, so a lot of good players weren’t there, but only one of
the players that did show up broke par for 54 holes and that was Riley, who
fired back-to-back 2-under 70s Sunday and Monday and finished up with a 3-over
75 for a 1-under 215 total.
Backing up Riley for the Wildcats were one of their senior
stalwarts, Stephanie Lau of Fullerton, Calif. and No. 37 in the Women’s WAGR, and
Kelly Sim, a freshman from Edgewater, N.J., both of whom were part of a trio of
players that finished tied for fourth at 1-over 217, two shots behind Riley.
Lau is among the more underrated players in America. She
took a trip across the pond last summer and reached the final of the Ladies’
British Open Amateur Championship at Hillside Golf Club in Southport, England
before falling to Leonie Harm, a senior at Houston who became the first German
to win the event.
Lau was right in the middle of Northwestern’s gutty run to
the NCAA Championship’s Final Match two years ago at Rich Harvest Farms, the
Wildcats falling to Arizona State. She helped the Wildcats reach match play
last spring at Karsten Creek, Northwestern falling, 3-2, to Stanford in the
quarterfinals.
Players like Lau might be drawn to Northwestern by the
academics, but don’t sell them short on the golf course. They always compete.
Lau bettered par in the opening round at the Silverado Showdown with a 2-under
70 and matched par in the second round with a 72 before closing with a 3-over
75.
After opening with a 75, Sim carded one of the few sub-70 rounds
of the tournament, a 4-under 68, in the second round before closing with a
2-over 74.
Much like Lau, Janet Mao, a senior from Johns Creek, Ga.,
has been there for Northwestern’s last two deep postseason runs. Mao struggled
with a 79 in the opening round and a 3-over 75 in Monday’s second round. But
she was Northwestern’s medalist in the final round with the title on the line,
carding a 1-under 71 that left her in the group tied for 29th at
9-over 225.
Lau and Mao both qualified for match play in last summer’s U.S.
Women’s Amateur at The Golf Club of Tennessee.
Rounding out the Northwestern lineup was Kelly Su, a
freshman from Scottsdale, Ariz. who closed with a counting 2-over 74 to finish
among the group tied for 53rd at 230.
Southern Cal’s Malia Nam, a freshman from Kailua, Hawaii,
and San Jose State’s Natasha Andrea Oon, a freshman from Malaysia, shared
second place in the individual chase, each finishing up a shot behind Riley at
even-par 216.
Nam closed with a 2-under 70 to get her share of second
while Oon got into contention with a 3-under 69 in the second round before
closing with a 1-over 73.
Joining Northwestern’s Lau and Sim in the trio tied for
fourth at 1-over 217 was Oregon’s Kathleen Scavo, a senior from Benicia, Calif.
who bounced back from an opening-round 75 with a 2-under 70 in Monday’s second
round before matching par with a 72 in the final round.
Stanford’s Ziyi Wang, a junior from China, and Southern
Cal’s Gabriela Ruffels, a sophomore from Australia, finished in a tie for
seventh place at 3-over 219. After opening with a 75, Wang posted a 2-under 70
in Monday’s second round before finishing up with a 2-over 74. Ruffels matched
par with 72s in the first two rounds before closing with a 3-over 75.
California’s Katherine Zhu, a freshman from San Jose,
Calif., and Washington’s Rino Sasaki, a sophomore from Japan, rounded out the
top 10 in the individual standings as they finished tied for ninth at 4-over
220. Zhu closed with a 2-under 70 after posting a pair of 3-over 75s in the
first two rounds. Sasaki bounced back from an opening-round 77 with a 2-under
70 in Monday’s second round before finishing up with a 1-over 73.
Corpuz was the only one of the three Southern Cal entries to
make the cut and get in a competitive round at Augusta National, the Alister
Mackenzie and Bobby Jones collaboration that has stood the test of time. Corpuz
matched par in the Saturday’s final round to finish among the group tied for 17th
at 3-over 219.
Abdulghany had a pair of 3-over 75s at Champions Retreat
Golf Club for a 150 total that her tied for 40th and Chang, the runnerup
in the 2017 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at Boone Valley Golf Club in
Augusta, Mo., had rounds of 78 and 76 for a 154 total that left her in the
group tied for 57th.
Stanford’s Lee made it to Saturday at Augusta National and
carded a 4-over 76 to finish among the group tied for 26th a 7-over
223. Her teammate Valenzuela closed with a 1-over 73 in the final round of the
ANA Inspiration Sunday and finished among the group tied for 66th at
6-over 294.
UCLA, the two-time defending Pac-12 champion, finished 11th
at the Silverado Showdown with a 44-over 908 total and saw its ranking drop
from No. 9 to No. 13.
The Bruins were without the services of Patty Tavatanakit, a
sophomore from Thailand and No. 2 in the Women’s WAGR. Tavatanakit, the
reigning Pac-12 individual champion, was at the ANA along with Stanford’s
Valenzuela.
All she did was close with a 4-under 68 to finish among the
group tied for 26th at even-par 288 and claim low-amateur honors.
Tavatanakit also was the low amateur in last spring’s U.S. Women’s Open at
Shoal Creek, finishing in a tie for fifth at 2-under 286.
It’s getting to the point at which the talented Tavatanakit
is leaving too much money on the table to not turn pro. But she should be there
to defend her individual title and help UCLA defend its conference championship
when the Pac-12 Championship tees off Monday at Palos Verdes Golf Club in Palos
Verdes Estates, Calif.
The last four national champions have come out of this
championship, so don’t be shocked if it happens again this spring. It will be,
as it always is, a heck of a shootout in its own right.
Northwestern, meanwhile, will be headed for the Big Ten
Championship, which tees off April 19 at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio.
The Wildcats will be trying to wrest the conference championship away from
Michigan State, which has captured the title each of the last two springs.
No matter what happens at TPC River’s Bend, though, you can
count on Northwestern being in the hunt for a match-play berth when the NCAA
Championship comes to The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. next month.
No comments:
Post a Comment