Kuehn claims individual title, leads Wake Forest to team crown in Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational

   A year ago, college golf was being played, but on a limited basis due to a coronavirus pandemic that was still raging out of control.

   Many schools would not allow their players to compete, including those in some of the nation’s premier conferences, most notably the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big Ten and the Pac-12.

   There is a certain urgency to the spring of the wraparound college golf season with the postseason rapidly approaching. It is maybe a little more leisurely pace in the fall. But the way the 2020-2021 season played out, it seemed that the power conferences that had played at least a little fall golf, the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12 in particular, were more prepared to go the distance in the end.

   There are also some really neat events on the fall that went by the wayside, tournaments like the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational, hosted by North Carolina at its UNC Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, N.C. It is an event that has always drawn a top field. Yes, the NCAA Championship is still way off in the distance, but the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational has always been as hotly contested as some of the college football rivalries that are played out by some of these same schools in the fall.

   The Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational was back this past weekend. And true to its past, the event produced a worthy team champion in ACC power Wake Forest, No. 11 in the latest Golfstat rankings, and its standout individual champion Rachel Kuehn, a junior from Asheville, N.C. and No. 23 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

   The Demon Deacons seemed to be hitting on all cylinders last spring, but they faltered in the NCAA Championship, failing to advance to the match-play bracket at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. Maybe Wake Forest lacked just a little bit of the foundation that the fall portion of the wraparound season provides. Maybe not.

   But behind an outstanding individual performance by Kuehn, the medalist in qualifying for match play in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. in August, Wake Forest captured the team crown in the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational, which wrapped up Sunday, by 10 shots over ACC rival and No. 43 Clemson.

   Kuehn, one of the heroes on a United States team that rallied to retain the Curtis Cup in August at Conwy Golf Club in Caernarvonshire, Wales, unleashed a stunning nine-birdie, no-bogey 63 in Saturday’s second round that enabled her to surge into the individual lead and put the Demon Deacons in control of the team chase.

   Wake Forest trailed ACC rival Virginia Tech, ranked 31^st, by a shot after the Demon Deacons posted a 5-under 283 in Friday’s opening round over the 6,393-yard, par-72 UNC Finley layout. But with Kuehn going off for the best individual round in the history of the program, Wake Forest put together a sparkling 11-under 277 in Saturday’s second round to take a four-shot lead over Virginia Tech into Sunday’s final round.

   Wake Forest closed with a 1-under 287 to finish with a 17-under 847 total that was 10 shots clear of Clemson. The Tigers had opened with a 3-under 285 and added an 8-under 280 before closing with a 4-over 292 to finish with a 7-under 857 total.

   Virginia Tech had registered a second straight 6-under 282 in Saturday’s second round to trail Wake Forest by four shots going into Sunday’s final round, but the Hokies cooled off in the final round with a 7-over 295 to finish two shots behind Clemson in third place with a 5-under 859 total.

   SEC power Alabama, ranked 13^th, was another three shots behind Virginia Tech in fourth place with a 2-under 862 total. The Crimson Tide opened with a 2-under 286 and added a 1-under 287 in Saturday’s second round before finishing up with a 1-over 289.

   Reigning ACC champion Duke, ranked 12^th, and Alabama’s SEC rival Kentucky, ranked 32^nd, finished in a tie for fifth place, each landing on 1-under 863.

   The Blue Devils, who won the most recent of their seven NCAA crowns by beating Wake Forest in the final in 2019 at The Blessings in Fayetteville, Ark., were playing without Gina Kim, a senior from Durham, N.C. who is preparing for this week’s Stage II of LPGA Qualifying School.

   But Duke, behind Erica Shepherd, a junior from Greenwood, Ind. who finished just a shot behind Kuehn in the individual standings, opened with a 2-under 286, added a 1-under 287 in Saturday’s second round and closed with a 1-over 289.

   Kentucky, behind U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Jensen Castle, a junior from West Columbia, S.C. who finished alone in 13^th place, opened with a 4-under 284, backed off with a 2-over 290 in Saturday’s second round and matched Duke’s final-round 289 to get a share of fifth place with the Blue Devils. The Wildcats were another SEC entry.

   No. 40 Ohio State, out of the Big Ten, finished in 15^th place in the field of 19 teams that included a B team from host North Carolina, with a 14-over 878 total.

   I mention the Buckeyes because they are now under the guidance of Lisa Strom, the 1994 PIAA champion as a senior at Lansdale Catholic. Strom came home to Columbus over the summer to a place where she starred as a player in the 1990s and was an assistant coach from 2011 to 2016.

   After a couple of very successful seasons at Kent State, Strom took over from Therese Hession, who has been involved with the program since 1991 and was Strom’s head coach. Hession was named director of golf at Ohio State in 2018 and will continue to oversee the men’s and women’s programs in that role.

   Kuehn had opened with a 2-under 70, which left her four shots behind Erica Shepherd, who had carded a sparkling 6-under 66. But Kuehn took over the lead with her sizzling 9-under 63 in Saturday’s second round that gave her a three-shot advantage over Erica Shepherd, winner of the 2017 U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship at the Boone Valley Golf Club in Augusta, Mo. and No. 49 in the Women’s WAGR.

   Kuehn got a birdie putt to fall on the 17^th hole as she matched par in the final round with a 72 for an 11-under 205 total as she held off Erica Shepherd by a shot. The Duke left-hander closed with a 2-under 70 to finish a shot behind Kuehn with a 10-under 206 total.

   Backing up Kuehn for Wake Forest was Mimi Rhodes, a sophomore from England who finished in a tie for 14^th place at 3-under 213. Rhodes added a 2-under 70 to her opening-round 71 before finishing up by matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Carolina Chacarra, a freshman from Spain and No. 22 in the Women’s WAGR, added a second straight even-par 72 in the final round to her opening round of 2-under 70 to finish among the group tied for 16^th place at 2-under 214. Virunpat Olankitkunchai, a graduate student from Thailand who transferred to Wake Forest after an outstanding run at Maryland, closed with a 1-under 71 after matching par in the first two rounds with a pair of 72s to finish in the group tied for 21^st place at 1-under 215 total.

   Rounding out the Wake Forest lineup was Lauren Walsh, a junior from Ireland and No. 16 in the Women’s WAGR. Walsh was on the Great Britain & Ireland team that fell to Kuehn and Team USA in the Curtis Cup Match in August. The steady Walsh sandwiched an even-par 72 in Saturday’s second round with a pair of 1-over 73s to end up among the group tied for 35^th place with a 2-over 218 total.

   Vanessa Knecht, a senior from Switzerland who was in the Wake Forest starting lineup in its loss to Duke in 2019’s Final Match, competed as an individual in the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational and joined teammate Chacarra in the group tied for 16^th place at 2-under 213. Knecht matched par in the opening round with a 72 and, after adding a 73 in Saturday’s second round, closed with a solid 3-under 69.

   Clemson had two players, Ivy Shepherd, a junior from Peachtree City, Ga., and Melena Barrientos, a freshman from Plano, Texas, in a group of five players who finished in a tie for third place in the individual standings at 6-under 210, four shots behind Erica Shepherd.

   After matching par with a 72 in the opening round, Ivy Shepherd ripped off a pair of 3-under 69s. Barrientos was in the hunt for the individual title after she added a sparkling 6-under 66 to her opening-round 70 that left her in a tie for second place with Duke’s Erica Shepherd, three shots behind Kuehn. Barrientos backed off a little with a 2-over 74 in the final round.

   Rounding out the quintet at 6-under were Alabama’s Benedetta Moresco, a sophomore from Italy, Virginia Tech’s Becca DiNunzio, a junior from Norfolk, Va. and Michigan’s Hailey Borja, a junior from Lake Forest, Calif.

   Moresco matched par in Saturday’s second round with a 72 after opening with a solid 4-under 68 and closed with a 2-under 70. After opening with a 73, DiNunzio went off with a scintillating 6-under 66 in Saturday’s second round before finishing up with a 1-under 71. Borja sandwiched a 4-under 68 in Saturday’s second round with a pair of 71s.

   Host North Carolina, which finished in a tie for ninth place with Vanderbilt with a 6-over 870 total, was led by Kayla Smith, a junior from Birmingham, Ala. who headed a group of five players tied for eighth place at 5-under 211. Smith added a pair of 1-under 71s to her solid opening round of 4-under 68.

   Joining Smith at 5-under were Furman’s Anna Morgan, a junior from Spartanburg, S.C., Alabama’s Polly Mack, a fifth-year player from Germany, Mississippi State’s Julia Lopez Ramirez, a freshman from Spain, and Virginia Tech’s Emily Mahar, a sophomore from Australia.

   Morgan, the runnerup to Duke’s Kim in the North & South Women’s Amateur Championship at the Pinehurst Resort in July, closed with a 3-under 69 after posting back-to-back 1-under 71s in the first two rounds. After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Mack posted a 3-under 69 in Saturday’s second round before closing with a 70. Lopez Ramirez added a pair of 2-under 70s in the last two rounds to her opening-round 71. Mahar, who reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Westchester in August, added a 70 to her opening round of 3-under 69 before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Kentucky’s Castle was a shot behind that fivesome as she was alone in 13^th place at 4-under 212. She added a solid 3-under 69 to her opening-round 73 before finishing up with a 2-under 70.

   Castle teamed with Kuehn to defeat Kuehn’s Wake Forest teammate Walsh and Louise Duncan, winner of The Women’s Amateur Championship earlier in the summer, in a four-ball match during the United States’ Day Two comeback in the Curtis Cup Match in Wales. Batting leadoff in the Sunday singles, Castle earned a half-point by battling Royal & Ancient Girls’ Championship winner Hannah Darling to a draw.

   The Duke lineup included a couple of standouts with Delaware ties. Freshman Rylie Heflin, the Avondale resident who starred at Tower Hill Academy, finished among the group tied for 47^th place at 5-over 221. Heflin, filling Kim’s place in the lineup, added a solid 2-under 70 to her opening-round 74 before closing with a 77. Heflin won the 2017 Pennsylvania Junior Girls’ Championship at Hershey Country Club’s East Course.

   Sophomore Phoebe Brinker, an Archmere Academy product, was a shot behind Heflin in the group tied for 52^nd place at 6-over 222. Brinker was outstanding as a freshman last spring, finishing in a tie for fifth place in the individual standings in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk and helping the Blue Devils reach the semifinals in match play. She added a 2-over 74 to her opening-round 76 at the UNC Finley layout before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   SMU junior Katie James, a member of Shady Side Academy’s 2016 PIAA Class AAA championship team, finished among the group tied for 81^st place in the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational with a 229 total. James added a 77 to her opening-round 78 before closing with a 79. The Mustangs, out of the American Athletic Conference, finished in 16^th place with a 25-over 889 total.

   Freshman Riley Quartermain, one of the Central League’s top players at Haverford High, teed it up as one of four players on a North Carolina B team, which finished last of 19 teams with a 927 total. Quartermain, a product of the Llanerch Country Club junior program, added a pair of 81s to her opening round of 4-over 76 to finish in a tie for 93^rd place with a 238 total.