Making her college debut, Cleary helps Virginia capture team title in UCF Challenge

   It was a September of 2017 when three teen-agers from Wilmington, Del. took the final edition of the USGA Women’s State Team Championship at The Club at Las Campanas’ Sunrise Course in Santa Fe, N.M. by storm, giving the First State a runnerup finish.

   One of those kids was Jennifer Cleary. You’d think the 16-year-old Cleary and her teammates, 15-year-old Phoebe Brinker and 16-year-old Esther Park, might be a little bit intimidated in a national event far from home. I lamented at the time that what I always thought was a pretty cool event was being discontinued by the USGA, but couldn’t help but celebrate the accomplishment of the team from Delaware.

   More than three years later, Cleary was making her college debut this week for Virginia. It was a debut delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, which shut down the Cavaliers for the fall portion of the wraparound 2020-2021 season.

   And didn’t Cleary’s team – there’s that word again, team – go out and win the thing. Virginia, with the debuting Cleary cool, calm and collected the whole time, rallied from 11 shots behind in Tuesday’s final round of the UCF Challenge at Eagle Creek Golf Club in chilly Orlando, Fla. and held off Atlantic Coast Conference rival Wake Forest to capture the team title by a shot over the Demon Deacons.

   When the weather turned cold and chilly – by central Florida standards – following Sunday’s opening round, Virginia really got going. The Cavaliers were one of two teams to better par in Monday’s second round with a 1-under 287. The other was Houston, which grabbed a four-shot lead over Wake Forest with a spectacular 7-under 281.

   Virginia was the only team to get it around under par over the 6,349-yard, par-72 Eagle Creek layout in Tuesday’s final round with another 1-under 287 that left the Cavaliers with a 5-under 859 total.

   The fact that it was Wake Forest that Virginia beat makes the victory even more significant. The last time the NCAA Championship was contested, in the spring of 2019 at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark., Wake Forest fell to Duke in an all-ACC final. Wake Forest was ranked No. 1 by Golfstat when the ill-fated 2019-’20 season was halted by the pandemic last March.

   Wake Forest’s best player, Emilia Migliaccio, a senior from Cary, N.C. and No. 10 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, was off her game at Eagle Creek after spending two days at nearby Lake Nona Golf & Country Club participating in a practice session for the U.S. Curtis Cup team. But Wake is Wake and Virginia will take a deserved jolt of confidence from beating one of the best teams in its conference and in the country.

   Wake Forest had creeped within four shots of Houston by matching par in Monday’s second round, but the Demon Deacons couldn’t keep up with Virginia’s final-round surge and their 7-over 295 left them a shot behind the Cavaliers at 4-under 860.

   Another ACC entry, Miami, was another seven shots behind Wake Forest, the Hurricanes finishing third in the UCF Challenge for the second straight year with a 3-over 867 total. Miami closed with a solid 4-over 292.

   Defending UCF Challenge champion Kent State, under second-year coach Lisa Strom, the 1994 PIAA champion at Lansdale Catholic, was a shot behind Miami in fourth place at 4-over 868. The Golden Flashes, No. 6 when the 2019-’20 season came to a premature end, finished up with a solid 6-over 294.

   Houston, out of the American Athletic Conference, struggled in the final round with a 20-over 308 to finish a shot behind Kent State in fifth place at 5-over 869, but the Cougars’ Karen Fredgaard, a sophomore from Denmark, capped a brilliant week by matching par with a 72 to take the individual trophy with a 7-under 209 total.

   Southeastern Conference power Arkansas closed with a 7-over 295 to finish alone in sixth place at 6-over 870. Unlike most of the 17-team field, the Razorbacks did get to play a little tournament golf last fall and the youngish Razorbacks flashed their considerable ability in Sunday’s more tranquil conditions when they grabbed the early lead with a sizzling 15-under 273.

   Penn State closed with a 13-over 301 to finish alone in 12^th place at 27-over 891. The Nittany Lions were playing a little tournament inside the tournament with their Big 10 foes, Purdue and Michigan State, two of the conference’s perennial powers. The Boilers finished eight shots ahead of Penn State in 10^th place at 19-over 883 and the Spartans ended up in 11^th place, five shots clear of the Nittany Lions with an 886 total.

   Cleary wasn’t Virginia’s best player at Eagle Creek. That would be the team’s veteran leader, Beth Lillie, a senior from Fullerton, Calif., and Celeste Valinho, a sophomore from Jacksonville, Fla., both of whom ended up among a group of four players tied for third place at 2-under 214. Lillie closed with a 1-under 71 while Valinho, so solid all week, matched par in the final round with a 72.

   Cleary wasn’t even Virginia’s third-best player. That would be Riley Smyth, a junior from Cary, N.C. who had the best round of the day Tuesday for the Cavaliers with a 2-under 70 that left her in a group of three players tied for seventh place at 1-under 215. Smyth displayed a ton of grit when she reached the quarterfinals of last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md.

   But when Lillie struggled a little in the opening round with a 75, Cleary was there with an even-par 72 in her first round as a collegian. When Smyth couldn’t get it going in the second round and posted a 76, Cleary was there with a 2-under 70. And when the Cavaliers needed their freshman to grind in Tuesday’s final round, Cleary responded with a 2-over 74 that enabled her to sneak into the top 10, in a tie for 10^th place at even-par 216.

   Rounding out the Virginia lineup was Virginia Bossi, a sophomore from Italy who finished up with her second straight 78 to end up in the group tied for 73^rd place at 231, a group that included Wake Forest’s Migliaccio.

   The Cavaliers had prepared for the UCF Challenge by playing in some wind and cold back in Charlottesville and the players and third-year head coach Ria Scott credited those rounds with helping her players handle the conditions at Eagle Creek when a post-card central Florida Sunday turned into temperatures in the low 50s with gusty winds Monday and Tuesday.

   Scott also discovered that in her freshman Cleary she has a team player, something I discovered, quite to my amazement, while following the progress of Cleary and the Wilmington kids in 2017 at The Club at Las Campanas.

   Houston’s Fredgaard had earned a share of the individual lead when she shrugged off the wind and the chill to fire a 5-under 67 in Monday’s second round. Fredgaard struggled a little early in Tuesday’s final round with bogeys at the fifth and eighth holes.

   Birdies at the 11^th and 13^th holes got Fredgaard back to even for the round and she answered a bogey at the 17^th with a birdie at the last to hold off Wake Forest’s Lauren Walsh, a sophomore from Ireland and No. 42 in the Women’s WAGR, by two shots.

   Walsh had shared the lead after two rounds with Fredgaard before finishing up with a 2-over 74 that left her alone in second place with a 5-under 211 total.

   Walsh’s teammate, Rachel Kuehn, a sophomore from Asheville, N.C. and No. 34 in the Women’s WAGR, joined Virginia’s Lillie and Valinho in the quartet tied for third place at 2-under 214, three shots behind Walsh. Kuehn, winner of last summer’s North & South Women’s Amateur Championship on the Pinehurst Resort’s iconic No. 2 Course, closed with a 4-over 76.

   Kuehn had joined Migliaccio as part of the group of players auditioning for the U.S. Curtis Cup team at Lake Nona Friday and Saturday under the watchful eye of U.S. captain Sarah Ingram.

   Rounding out the foursome tied for third place at 214 was Kent State’s Emily Price, a junior from England, who bounced back from a 77 in Monday’s second round by matching par in the final round with a 72. Price had grabbed the lead following a sparkling 7-under 65 in Sunday’s opening round.

   Joining Virginia’s Smyth in the trio tied for seventh place at 1-under 215 was Price’s Kent State teammate and fellow English woman, Coley McGinty, a sophomore, and Kennesaw State’s Tai Anudit, a senior from Thailand. McGinty finished up with a 76 while Anudit closed with a 3-over 75.

   Elaine Ratcliffe, the captain for Great Britain & Ireland for this summer’s Curtis Cup Match at Conwy Golf Club in Carnaervonshire, Wales, was likely paying attention to what was going on at Eagle Creek. Wake Forest’s Walsh and Kent State’s Price and McGinty are on the preliminary list of 17 players released by the Royal & Ancient last fall who are candidates for the GB&I team.

   Joining Virginia’s Cleary in the tie for 10^th place at even-par 216 was Miami’s Franziska Sliper, a freshman from Norway who matched par in the final round with a 72.

   Leading the way for Penn State was Mathilde Delavallade, a sophomore from France who carded her second straight 4-over 76 to finish among the group tied for 35^th place at 6-over 222. Graduate student Megan McLean, a Voorhees High product and the veteran on Denise St. Pierre’s youthful team, was a shot behind Delavallade in the group tied for 39^th place at 223 after closing with a 3-over 75.

   Victoria Tip-Aucha, a freshman from Vienna, Va. via Thailand, had a solid debut as she registered her second straight 76 to finish among the group tied for 47^th place at 8-over 224. Isha Dhruva, a sophomore from Katy, Texas, finished a shot behind Tip-Aucha in the group tied for 51^st place at 9-over 225 after closing with a 77.

   Sarah Willis, a junior from Eaton, Ohio, bounced back nicely from an 82 in Monday’s second round as her 2-over 74 was Penn State’s best round of the day and enabled her to climb into a tie for 66^th place at 228.

   Sophomore Taylor Waller, a Canon-McMillan product, competed as an individual at Eagle Creek and finished in a tie for 83^rd place at 231 after finishing up with a 79.