Kim takes individual title and sparks a Northwestern surge to team crown in Lady Puerto Rico Classic

   The last of the players who helped Northwestern reach the Final Match in the 2017 NCAA Championship at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill. departed the program last spring.

   If that was the end of an era, the Wildcats capped it with a flourish. Northwestern, a perennial Big Ten power, outperformed its No. 4 seed by finishing third in the NCAA Cle Elum Regional and advancing to the NCAA Championship at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark.

    But if you thought Northwestern was going to struggle in the wraparound 2019-2020 season, think again.

   In the final round of the Lady Puerto Rico Classic at the Rio Mar Country Club’s River Course Tuesday in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, the Wildcats, with Irene Kim, a freshman from La Palma, Calif., and Kelly Sim, a sophomore from Edgewater, N.J., going low, posted the best team round of the tournament, an 8-under 280, to cruise to a six-shot victory.

   Northwestern came into the final round tied for fourth place, five shots behind Texas Tech, No. 32 in the latest Golfstat rankings. But with Kim firing a 5-under-par 67 over the 6,164-yard, par-72 River Course on her way to the individual title, the Wildcats got it back to even-par 864 for the tournament to finish six shots clear of the Red Raiders.

   Northwestern had opened with back-to-back 4-over 292s, but, as the good programs often do, saved its best for last in earning its first team title of the 2019-’20 season. Kim had four birdies and an eagle in a stretch of six holes on the back nine on her way to her first collegiate tournament victory.

   Kim entered the final round tied for the individual lead with Virginia Tech’s Alyssa Montgomery, a freshman from Knoxville, Tenn., after Kim had added a 71 to her opening-round of 3-under 69. Her final-round 67 gave her a 9-under 207 total and a one-shot victory over hard-charging Monika Hartl, a junior at North Carolina State from Germany who matched Kim’s final-round 67 to earn runnerup honors at 8-under 208.

   Texas Tech, out of the Big 12, posted a final round of 3-over 291, but still earned a runnerup finish with a 6-over 870 total. No. 22 Virginia Tech, an Atlantic Coast Conference representative, matched par in the final round with a 288 to end up alone in third place, a shot behind the Red Raiders at 7-over 871.

   Texas Tech’s Big 12 rival Oklahoma State, at No. 14 the highest-rated team in the field, was two shots behind Virginia Tech in fourth place at 9-over 873 after a final round of 4-over 292. No. 21 Kentucky, out of the Southeastern Conference, finished alone in fifth place at 11-over 875 after closing strong with a 1-over 289.

   Northwestern’s Big Ten rival Purdue, which also made a run to the NCAA Championship last spring, closed with a 5-over 293 to finish alone in sixth place at 13-over 877, two shots behind Kentucky. Augusta finished strong with a sparkling 6-under 282 to climb up to seventh place in the final standings at 17-over 881, four shots behind the Boilermakers.

   Another SEC entry, No. 40 Georgia, finished up with an 8-over 296 to end up in eighth place in the 15-team field at 19-over 883, two shots behind its in-state rival Augusta.

   Sim backed up Kim for Northwestern as she posted her second consecutive 3-under 69 to join two other players in a tie for third place at 6-under 210, two shots behind Hartl.

   The Wildcats got a huge 1-under 71 in the final round from Jane Lu, a sophomore from China who struggled in her first two tours of the River Course. Lu had opened with a 76 and recorded an 85 in Monday’s second round.

  Lu had the highest finish of Northwestern’s starting five, ending up among the group tied for 62^nd place at 232, but she did a great job of putting the 85 in the rear-view mirror and improving on that by 14 shots Tuesday.

   Kelly Su, a sophomore from Scottsdale, Ariz., had her best round of the week, a 1-over 73, for Northwestern’s final counter as she finished among the group tied for 31^st place at 7-over 223.

Brooke Riley, a senior from Manteca, Calif., never got it going at the River Course, finishing up with a 4-over 76 that left her among the group tied for 53^rd place 229.

   Riley, though, played a huge role in the Wildcats’ run to the NCAA Championship last spring, finishing in a tie for fifth with eventual NCAA individual champion Maria Fassi of Arkansas in the Cle Elum Regional.

   Joining Northwestern’s Sim in the trio tied for third place at 6-under 210 were Virginia Tech’s Montgomery and Texas Tech’s Sofia Garcia, a junior from Paraguay and No. 16 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

   The co-leader along with Kim after rounds, Montgomery closed with a solid 2-under 70. After starting slowly with a 1-over 73, Garcia kept getting better, adding a 3-under 69 in Monday’s second round before finishing up with a 4-under 68.

   Indiana’s Anni Eisenhut, a freshman from Germany, closed with a solid 3-under 69 to finish alone in sixth place at 5-under 211, a shot behind the trio tied for third place.

   It was four more shots back to Oklahoma State’s freshman phenom, Isabella Fierro of Mexico, who bounced back from a second-round 75 with a final round of 2-under 70 to finish alone in seventh place at 1-under 215. In the summer of 2017, a 16-year-old Fierro won the North & South Women’s Amateur Championship at Pinehurst and reached the round of 16 in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at San Diego Country Club.

   Two of the three players who shared eighth place at even-par 216 were also freshmen, Texas Tech’s Gala Dumez of France and Purdue’s Sifat Sagoo of India. Both struggled a little in the final round, each posting a 2-over 74, but both had solid weeks in Puerto Rico.

   Dumez and Sagoo were joined at 216 by Kentucky’s Rikke Svejgaard Nielsen, a junior from Denmark who closed with her best round of the week, a 2-under 70.