Seton Hall, happy to be competing again, finishes 12th in Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate

    It’s been a year since I posted my last roundup of a college golf tournament for the ill-fated wraparound 2019-2020 season.

   Earlier that week, Seton Hall had placed a solid second in the UNF Challenge at Jacksonville Golf & Country Club. It should have been an upbeat report about the close-knit senior class gathering momentum in hopes of earning a win in the Big East Championship that had eluded them during their time in South Orange, N.J.

   Instead, it was an obituary for a college golf season that had been suddenly, shockingly terminated by the coronavirus pandemic.

   One bit of good news emerged in the weeks that followed when the NCAA offered seniors the opportunity to return for a fifth season. Three of Seton Hall’s stellar senior class took that option, including Maddie Sager, the PIAA Class AAA runnerup in 2015 as a senior at Owen J. Roberts, Lizzie Win of Sylvania, Ohio and Carolina Ronchel Salas. Sammie Staudt, a four-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier during an outstanding scholastic career at Coatesville, did not return for a fifth season.

   Not that the coronavirus was finished with wreaking havoc on their lives. With the virus rampaging, the fall portion of the wraparound 2020-’21 season didn’t happen. Coronavirus issues prevented the Pirates from teeing it up in the first two events of the spring schedule.

   Finally, this week Seton Hall, undoubtedly a little rusty, got out on the golf course, teeing it up in the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate, which wrapped up Tuesday at the English Turn Golf & Country Club in New Orleans. The Pirates finished in 12^th place in the 13-team field, but they were competing as a team again. The Big East Championship tees off April 23, five weeks from Friday. There’s hope.

   Seton Hall opened with a 22-over-par 310 Sunday over the 6,280-yard, par-72 English Turn layout and added a 316 in Monday’s second round before finishing up with a bookend 310 for a 72-over 936 total. The Pirates finished 52 shots behind team champion Nebraska, again, not all that important in the big picture.

   Win and Sarah Fouratt, a senior from Santa Maria, Calif. led the way for Seton Hall, each landing in the group tied for 32^nd place at 15-over 231. Win struggled in the first two rounds, adding an 81 to her opening-round 76, but found her groove in the final round with a 2-over 74. Fouratt added a 76 to her opening-round 77 before finishing up with a 78.

   Senior Mia Kness, the 2016 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Peters Township, finished in a tie for 53^rd place with a 237 total. After opening with a 77, Kness struggled to an 82 in Monday’s second round before closing with a 79.

   Sager finished a shot behind Kness in the group tied for 55^th place at 238 as she opened with an 80 and added a 77 in Monday’s second round before finishing up with an 81.

   Rounding out the Seton Hall lineup was Ludovica Busetto, a sophomore from Italy who finished alone in 73^rd place at 248, her final-round 80 her best round of the tournament. Seton Hall head coach Natalie Desjardins brought along Busetto’s fellow Italian, freshman Ginerva Ricciardelli, to compete as an individual and Ricciardelli finished alone in 70^th place at 245. Ricciardelli, making her college debut, opened with a 79, struggled to an 85 in Monday’s second round and closed with an 81.

   Ronchel Salas did not make the trip, but she is back, part of the veteran nucleus for the Pirates motivated by what I’m sure they consider unfinished business.

   Nebraska’s Kate Smith, a fifth-year player from Detroit Lakes, Minn., wasn’t going to let her college career end with a whimper in the spring of 2020. Smith was the only player to finish under par for three rounds at English Turn at 1-under 215 as she captured the individual title to lead the Big Ten’s Cornhuskers to a seven-shot victory over Texas State for the team crown.

  Smith was coming off a solid sixth-place finish in last week’s Bruin Wave Intercollegiate at The Saticoy Club in Somis, Calif. Smith opened with a 71 and added a 74 in Monday’s second round before closing with a 2-under 70 to hold off a hard-charging Carlota Palacious, a Tulane sophomore from Spain who fired a spectacular 8-under 64 in Tuesday’s final round.

   Nebraska, No. 69 in the latest Golfstat rankings, added a 302 to its opening round of 6-over 294 that left the Cornhuskers two shots behind Texas State heading into Tuesday’s final round. Nebraska matched par in the final round with a 288 that left it with a 20-over 884 total.

   Texas State, one spot Nebraska in the Golfstat rankings at No. 70, opened with an 8-over 296 and added a 10-over 298 to take a two-shot advantage over the Cornhuskers into Tuesday’s final round. The Bobcats finished up with a 9-over 297 to finish with a 27-over 891 total.

   Host Tulane, ranked 85^th, struggled in the first two rounds of the tournament, opening with a 308 and adding a 307 in Monday’s second round, but the Green Wave’s final round of 3-under 285 was the best team round of the week and left them in third place, ,nine shots behind Texas State at 900.

   No. 102 Chattanooga was another six shots behind Tulane in fourth place with a 42-over 906 total. The Moccasins added a 304 to their opening-round 303 before closing with a 299.

   A couple of Nebraska’s Big Ten rivals, No. 117 Rutgers and No. 84 Wisconsin, finished in fifth and sixth place, respectively, behind Chattanooga. The Scarlet Knights were eight shots behind Chattanooga with a 50-over 914 total as they struggled to a 310 after opening with a 301 and finished up with a 303. The Badgers were two shots behind Rutgers with a 52-over 916 total as they bounced back from an opening-round 314 with a 304 in Monday’s second round before closing with a 10-over 298.

   Backing up Smith for Nebraska was Kirsten Baete, a junior from Beatrice, Neb. who finished alone in fourth place with a 5-over 221 total. Baete opened with a 73 and added a 76 in Monday’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Michaela Vavrova, a freshman from Slovenia, finished in the group tied for 20^th place at 12-over 228. Vavrova was consistent as she rattled off three straight 4-over 76s at English Turn.

   Alice Duan, a grad student from Reno, Nev. who transferred to Lincoln from Washington for her fifth year, and Lindsay Thiele, a freshman from Wahoo, Neb., rounded out the Nebraska lineup as each landed among the group tied for 23^rd place at 229. Duan got better as the week wore on, adding a 76 to her opening-round 79 and finishing up with a solid 2-over 74. Thiele struggled in the second round with a throwout 83, but came up big for the Cornhuskers in the opening round with a 2-over 74 and in the final round when she matched par with a 72.

   Texas State’s Palacious was seven shots out of the lead going into the final round after adding a 74 to her opening-round 78. But she unleashed a brilliant 8-birdie, no-bogey 64 in the final round, the only sub-70 round of the tournament, to finish a shot behind Smith in second place with an even-par 216 total.

   Palacious started with a birdie on her opening hole, the sixth. She then birdied the 10^th hole before ripping off three straight birdies at 15, 16 and 17. Birdies at the first, fourth and fifth holes completed her star turn at English Turn.

   Chattanooga freshman Beatriz Barrios, like Palacious a Spaniard, finished four shots behind Palacious in third place with a 4-over 220 total. Barrios matched par in the opening round with a 72, added a 75 in Monday’s second round and finished up with a 73.

   Palacious’ Texas State teammate, Marine Griffaut, a freshman from France, matched par in the second round with a 72 after opening with a 73 and shared the individual lead with Smith going into the final round. Griffaut cooled off in the final round with a 77, but still finished in a tie for fifth place with Central Arkansas’ Elin Kumlin, a sophomore from Sweden, each landing on 6-over 222, a shot behind Nebraska’s Baete. Kumlin improved each round, adding a 74 to her opening-round 76 before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Federica Tavelli-Westerlund, a freshman from Sweden, gave Texas State a third finisher among the top seven in the individual standings as she finished a shot behind Griffaut and Kumlin in seventh place at 7-over 223. Tavelli-Westerlund matched par in the opening round with a 72 and added a 77 in Monday’s second round before closing with a 74.

   Wisconsin’s Bobbi Stricker, a redshirt senior home girl from Madison, Wis. and yes, of course, the daughter of PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions star Steve Stricker, finished a shot behind Tavelli-Westerlund in eighth place with an 8-over 224 total. Stricker, clearly her father’s daughter, was steady throughout, adding a 2-over 74 in the final round to a pair of 75s.

   McNeese State’s Carolina Rotzinger, a fifth-year player from Mexico making her first appearance for the Cowgirls after transferring from Florida International, finished a shot behind Stricker in ninth place at 9-over 225. Rotzinger added a 2-over 74 to her opening-round 76 before finishing up with a 75.