Individual champion Tinsley leads Xavier to Big East crown; Sager helps Seton Hall finish second

    Maddie Sager, the 2015 PIAA Class AAA runnerup as a senior at Owen J. Roberts, and Lizzie Win of Sylvania, Ohio felt like they had their last chance to lead Seton Hall to a Big East championship stolen by the coronavirus pandemic that shut down college golf in March of 2020.

   So when the NCAA offered them a fifth year of eligibility to make up for that lost spring of 2020, Sager and Win were all in. Even with the 2020-’21 season reduced to a six-week sprint with the pandemic continuing to keep the Pirates from competing until March, they knew they were going to get that one last chance to tee it up in a Big East Championship.

   With Sager and Win leading the way, Seton Hall came up short as Xavier captured its second straight Big East title, beating the Pirates by 13 shots at the conference championship, which wrapped up Sunday at The Club at Gateway in Naples, Fla., to earn the conference’s automatic berth in the NCAA regionals, which begin May 10. But at least Sager and Win got the shot they wanted.

   Sager got herself in the mix for the individual title as she was 2-under-par through 12 holes of her final round over the 6,072-yard, par-72 Tom Fazio design at Gateway. She was 5-over for the championship. Sager, however, made three bogeys over her final six holes to finish alone in fifth place at 8-over 224. 

   Sager had opened her final college tournament with a 3-over 75 Friday and added a 4-over 76 in Saturday’s second round before closing with a solid 1-over 73 for an 8-over 224 total. It was the seventh top-five finish of her career.

   Win was one shot behind her teammate in a tie for sixth place with a 9-over 225 total. Win opened with a solid 2-over 74 and cooled off a little with a 78 in Saturday’s second round before matching Sager’s final-round 73. She finally earned the 18^th career top-10 finish she needed to break a tie for the program record.

   Xavier, as it had been in the last Big East Championship contested at its traditional home at Calawassie Island Golf Club in Okatie, S.C., was just too tough. This year’s championship was moved to The Club at Gateway as the community around Calawassie Island was concerned about exposing its senior population to too many outside visitors.

   Led by individual champion Morgan Tinsley, a senior from Louisville, Ky., the Musketeers opened with a 12-over 300, but added an 8-over 296 in Saturday’s second round to take control of the championship and pulled away with a final round of 7-over 295 for a 27-over 891 total.

   Seton Hall was close behind Xavier with its opening round of 13-over 301, but struggled in Saturday’s second round with a 309. The Pirates closed with the best team round of the weekend, a 6-over 294, to earn runnerup honors with a 40-over 904 total.

   Creighton had taken the lead with its opening round of 7-over 295, but the Blue Jays fell back with a 307 in Saturday’s second round and a final-round 311 to finish in third place at 49-over 913, nine shots behind Seton Hall.

   St. John’s got better as the weekend wore on, the Red Storm adding a 311 to their opening-round 313 before finishing up with a 300 that left them in fourth place with a 60-over 924 total. It was another 18 shots back to Butler in fifth place as the Bulldogs added a 309 to their opening-round 316 before closing with a 317 for a 78-over 942 total.

   Georgetown finished last of the six Big East teams as the Hoyas added a 323 to their opening-round 321 before closing with a 320 for a 100-over 964 total.

   I thought Kaitlyn Lees, the former Agnes Irwin standout and a three-time Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship winner, might make her Georgetown debut in the Big East Championship.

   But the Hoyas didn’t play any tournaments leading up to the conference championship and it conflicted with qualifying for match play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship, which teed off Saturday at Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton, Texas.

   Lees and her former Dartmouth teammate Samantha Yao, a two-time District One Class AAA champion at Conestoga, earned medalist honors in a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier for the U.S. Women’s Four-Ball last fall at Waynesborough Country Club. They were former Dartmouth teammates because Dartmouth responded to the pandemic by dropping its women’s golf program entirely.

   Lees and Yao bounced back from an opening-round 80 at Maridoe with a second-round 70, but missed the 32-team match-play bracket by two shots. I’ll get around to the U.S. Women’s Four-Ball at some point, but there’s a lot of golf going on right now. And there’s no way you’re going to hear me complaining about too much golf when, at this time last year there was no golf. Too much golf beats no golf every time.

   Tinsley and her Xavier teammates would likely agree. Tinsley was the highest of five finishers for the Musketeers two years ago at Calawassie Island. Two years later, she made a Big East individual crown her first career college tournament win. After matching par with an opening-round 72, Tinsley added a 76 in Saturday’s second round before closing with a 1-over 73 that gave her a 5-over 221 total.

   That was two shots better than two of her teammates, Mikayla Fitzpatrick, a graduate student from Phoenix, Ariz. and the Big East individual champion two years ago at Calawassie Island, and Andie Shukow, a senior from Boca Raton, Fla., as well as Creighton’s Gabby Tremblay, a freshman from Hayward, Wis.

   Fitzpatrick added a 75 to her opening-round 76 before matching par in Sunday’s final round with a 72 to end up with a 7-over 223 total. Shukow sandwiched a 1-over 73 in Saturday’s second round with a pair of 75s to also land on 223.

   Emma McMyler, a freshman from San Antonio, Texas and Abby Kiefer, a junior from Dublin, Ohio, gave Xavier five players inside the top eight as they finished in a tie for eighth place at 11-over 227 along with Creighton’s Katie Allen, a sophomore from Phoenix, Ariz.

   McMyler carded a pair of 3-over 75s after opening with a 77 and Kiefer bracketed a 1-over 73 in Saturday’s second round with a pair of 77s.

   Creighton’s Tremblay had a pair of solid 1-over 73s in Friday’s opening round and Sunday’s final round around a second-round 77 that earned her a share of second place with Xavier’s Fitzpatrick and Shukow at 7-over.

   Sharing sixth place with Seton Hall’s Win, a shot behind Sager at 9-over 225, was Butler’s Claire Edwards, a junior from Zionsville, Ind. who matched par in the second round with a 72 after opening with a 75 and took a one-shot lead over Xavier’s Tinsley and Shukow on the individual leaderboard into Sunday’s final round. Edwards struggled a little in the final round with a 78.

   Creighton’s Allen had the best individual round of the week, a 1-under 71 in Friday’s opening round before falling back with a pair of 78s that left her in a tie for eighth place with Xavier’s McMyler and Kiefer.

   Backing up Sager and Win for Seton Hall was senior Mia Kness, the 2016 PIAA Class AAA champion as a senior at Peters Township. After opening with a 75, Kness struggled to a 79 in Saturday’s second round before closing with a 2-over 74 to finish in a tie for 11^th place with a 12-over 228 total.

   Sarah Fouratt, a junior from Santa Maria, Calif., finished alone in 13^th place with a 230 total as she followed up a pair of 78s in the first two rounds with her best round of the weekend, a 2-over 74 in Sunday’s final round.

   Ginevra Ricciardelli, a freshman from Italy, rounded out the Seton Hall lineup as she carded a pair of 77s in the first two rounds before closing with an 81 that left her in a tie for 18^th place at 235.