Individual co-champion Price leads the way as Kent State beats the Big Ten's best to win team title in Indiana Invitational

    With the Big Ten Championship ready to tee off Friday, many of the conference’s teams teed it up in the Indiana Invitational, which wrapped up Sunday at the Pfau Course at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.

   Behind one of the three individual co-champions, Emily Price, a junior from England and No. 33 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), it was Mid-American Conference power Kent State that won the team crown, its third team title of the season, the Golden Flashes finishing with an 8-under-par 856 total over the 6,254-yard, par-72 Pfau Course layout. Kent State was the only team to finish under par.

   Kent State, under head coach Lisa Strom, the 1994 PIAA champion as a senior at Lansdale Catholic, will be going for a 22^nd straight MAC title when it tees off in their conference championship Friday. The Golden Flashes entered the Indiana Invitational as the highest-ranked team in the field at No. 17 and their victory bumped them up to No. 13 in the latest Golfstat rankings.

   Behind Kent State, though, were a lot of teams with designs on a Big Ten crown when the conference championship tees off Friday at TPC River’s Bend in Mainesville, Ohio.

   After opening with a 2-over 290, Kent State took control of the team chase with the best team round of the tournament, a 9-under 279 in a second round that was suspended by darkness Saturday and completed Sunday morning. The Golden Flashes closed with a 1-under 287 to finish at 8-under.

   Price had opened with a 1-over 73 before posting the best individual round of the tournament, a 5-under 67 in the second round split over two days. Price matched par in the final round with a 72 to get a share of individual honors with Michigan State’s Valery Plata, a junior from Colombia and No. 60 in the Women’s WAGR, and Michigan’s Ashley Lau, a junior from Malaysia, at 4-under 212.

   Maryland maintained its No. 19 ranking as the Terrapins, enjoying one of their best seasons since they joined the Big Ten, finished 10 shots behind Kent State in second place with a 2-over 866 total. Maryland was right on Kent State’s heels with a 3-over 291 in the opening round. The Terps added a 1-under 287 in the second round before matching par in the final round with a 288.

   Behind Plata, Michigan State finished four shots behind Maryland in third place at 6-over 870, climbing from No. 41 to No. 38 in the Golfstat rankings in the process. The Spartans added a 5-over 293 to their opening round of 4-over 292 before closing with a 3-under 285.

   Behind Lau, Michigan finished seven shots behind Michigan State in fourth place with a 13-over 877 total, falling from No. 23 to No. 25 in the Golfstat rankings. After opening with a 4-over 292, the Wolverines carded a 294 in the second round before closing with a solid 3-over 291.

   Perennial Big Ten power Northwestern was another six shots behind Michigan in fifth place with a 19-over 883 total. The Wildcats struggled in the first two rounds, opening with a 296 before adding a 300 when the second round was completed Sunday morning. But they matched Kent State’s 1-under 287 for the best team round of the final round.

  Northwestern fell from No. 21 to No. 30 with its showing in the Indiana Invitational, but the Wildcats have a way of always answering the bell when the postseason gets under way.

   No. 72 Penn State finished with its best round of the weekend, an 8-over 296 to finish in a tie for ninth place with No. 74 Minnesota at 38-over 902. The Nittany Lions opened with a 302 and added a 304 in the second round.

   Backing up Price for Kent State was Chloe Salort, a senior from France who finished in a tie for sixth place at even-par 216. After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Salort carded a 74 before closing with her best round of the weekend, a 2-under 70.

   Kory Nielsen, a senior home girl from Kent, Ohio, gave the Golden Flashes a third player inside the top eight as she finished in a group of four players tied for eighth place at 1-over 217. After opening with a 73, Nielsen contributed a 3-under 69 to the Golden Flashes’ second-round surge before closing with a 75.

   Caley McGinty, a sophomore from England, finished in the group tied for 14^th place at 3-over 219. McGinty, who had led Kent State to a team win in the Clemson Invitational with her first individual college victory in the Golden Flashes’ previous start in late March, bounced back from an opening-round 78 with a 3-under 69 before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Mayka Hoogeboom, a freshman from the Netherlands, finished in the group tied for 21^st place at 6-over 222 as she matched par in the opening round with a 72 and added a 77 before closing with a solid 1-over 73.

   Teams were allowed six-women lineups as coaches were getting one last chance to evaluate their players before figuring out a starting five for conference championships and rounding out the Kent State lineup was graduate student Marissa Kirkwood, a three-time PIAA Class AA qualifier at Neshanock. Kirkwood added a 74 to her opening round of 1-over 73 before finishing up with a 79 to land among the group tied for 38^th place at 226.

   Michigan State’s Plata, who made a run to the semifinals in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md., was the only player in the field with a sub-70 opening round on the tough Pfau Course as she started fast with a 3-under 69. She fell two shots behind Price through two rounds with a 1-over 73 before finishing up with a 2-under 70 to get a share of the individual title, her second collegiate victory.

   Michigan’s Lau was four shots behind Price after adding a 1-under 71 to her opening-round 73, but she closed with the low round of Sunday’s final round, a 4-under 68, to get her share of the individual crown, her first collegiate win.

   Northwestern’s Irene Kim, a sophomore from La Palma, Calif., and Illinois’ Tristyn Nowlin, a senior from Richmond, Ky., finished in a tie for fourth place at 1-under 215, three shots behind the co-champions.

   After carding a pair of 1-over 73s, Kim fired a 3-under 69 in the final round, the only other sub-70 final-round score other than Lau’s 68. After opening with a 73, Nowlin signed for a pair of 1-under 71s.

   Joining Kent State’s Salort in the tie for sixth place at even-par 216 was Purdue’s Sifat Sagoo, a sophomore from India who bounced back from an opening-round 75 with a 2-under 70 before finishing up with a 71.

   Sagoo’s teammate, Kan Bunnabodee, a sophomore from Thailand, joined Kent State’s Nielsen, Michigan State’s Paz Marfa Sans, a graduate student from Spain, and Nebraska’s Kate Smith, a senior from Detroit Lakes, Minn., in the quartet tied for eighth place at 1-over 217.

   Bunnabodee got better as the weekend wore on as she added a 73 to her opening-round 74 before closing with a 2-under 70. After posting a pair of 1-over 73s, Marfa Sans closed with a 1-under 71.

   Smith had earned some face time on The Golf Channel when she grabbed the lead during the opening round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship at the Champions Retreat Golf Club only to come up short of a trip to Augusta National for the final round in a playoff following Round 2.

   She’s been playing solid golf all spring and that continued in the Indiana Invitational as she matched par in each of the first two rounds with a pair of 72s before finishing up with a 73.

   Leading the way for Penn State was graduate student Megan McLean, a Voorhees High product who sandwiched a 75 in the second round with a pair of 2-over 74s to finish among the group tied for 26^th place at 7-over 223. McLean took up the NCAA on its offer of a fifth year of eligibility to make up for the spring of her senior season she lost to the coronavirus pandemic. Her effort in the Indiana Invitational just might have earned her one more shot in the Big Ten Championship.

   Sarah Willis, a junior from Eaton, Ohio, backed up McLean as she finished in the group tied for 38^th place at 226. Willis added a 77 to her opening-round 75 before closing with a 2-over 74. Mathilde Delavallade, a sophomore from France, finished in a tie for 46^th place at 228 as she added a pair of 3-over 75s to her opening-round 78.

   Sophomore Taylor Waller, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier in 2016 as a junior at Canon-McMillan, finished among the group tied for 65^th place at 233. After opening with a 76, Waller struggled to an 84 in the second round before finishing up with a solid 1-over 73.

   Senior Olivia Zambruno, a three-time PIAA Class AA champion at Greensburg Central Catholic, carded a pair of 77s in the first two rounds before closing with an 80 to land in the group tied for 69^th place at 234. Rounding out the Penn State contingent at the Indiana Invitational was Victoria Tip-Aucha, a freshman from Vienna, Va. via Thailand who has had a nice debut season, but struggled at the Pfau Course, carding a pair of 78s in the first two rounds and closing with an 80 to finish among the group tied for 76^th place at 236.