Individual champion Castle leads Kentucky to team crown in Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational

    Haven’t had a chance to dive into the top levels of either men’s or women’s Division I college golf much while concentrating on the local high school scene as well as the mid-amateurs and some big events for the Philadelphia area’s club pros.

   But I always had a soft spot for the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational from back in the days when former Radnor High standout Brynn Walker was playing at North Carolina and it was a pretty interesting renewal of the event last week at The Governor’s Club in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational wrapped up Oct. 18^th.

   With 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion and twice a member of winning United States Curtis Cup teams Jensen Castle leading the way, Kentucky, a Southeastern Conference team on the rise, edged reigning Atlantic Coast Conference champion Wake Forest by five shots to capture the team crown.

   Wake Forest had entered the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational as the No. 1 team in the Golfstat rankings, but were going to drop back to No. 2 after suffering a 4-1 setback to Stanford in the match-play final of the Jackson T. Stephens Cup at the iconic Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. less than a week before the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational.

   The current versions of Stanford and Wake Forest would both be part of the conversation if you were talking about the best college women’s teams ever put together. It’s a long time between now and the NCAA Championship in May at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., but if neither team suffers a defection to the pro ranks during the midseason pause, it wouldn’t be shocking to see a Jackson T. Stephens Cup rematch in the NCAA’s Final Match.

   So, give Kentucky some credit for knocking off what is now the No. 2 team in the country. The win, coming on the heels of a team victory for the Wildcats at the Illini Women’s Invitational at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Ill. a week earlier, saw them move from No. 39 in the Golfstat rankings to No. 29. Clearly, this is a team that is movin’ on up.

   Castle burst onto the national scene when she won the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2021 at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. The next thing she knew, she was helping the U.S. beat Great Britain & Ireland in a coronavirus-delayed Curtis Cup at Conwy Golf Club in Caernarvonshire, Wales. Castle was back in Red, White & Blue this past June, helping the U.S. retain the Curtis Cup with an impressive 14.5-5.5 win over a talented bunch from GB&I at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township.

   A final round of 4-under-par 68 over the 6,203-yard, par-72 Governor’s Club layout enabled Castle, a junior from West Columbia, S.C. and No. 39 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), to catch Duke junior Phoebe Brinker, a Wilmington, Del. native and Archmere Academy product, in the battle for the individual title at 7-under 209.

   A par on the first hole of a playoff, the par-3 ninth hole at The Governor’s Club, gave Castle the victory.

   Castle had struggled to a 2-over 74 in the opening round, but surged into contention in the afternoon of the first day’s double round with a 5-under 67. Looks like lightning and darkness forced suspension of the second round, which had to be completed the following morning.

   Brinker, the reigning ACC individual champion and No. 76 in the Women’s WAGR, had taken the lead with rounds of 5-under 67 and 2-under 70 in the opening day’s double round. She matched par in the final round with a 72 to join Castle at 7-under 209.

   Brinker’s strong opening round helped Duke, which fell back to No. 13 in the Golfstat rankings in the wake of the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational after entering the tournament at No. 8, open with a 1-under 287.

   Kentucky trailed the Blue Devils by three shots after opening with a solid 2-over 290. Castle’s strong second round helped the Wildcats record a 5-under 283 and take a one-shot lead over Wake Forest into the final round.

   A solid 1-under 287 in the final round gave Kentucky a 4-under 860 total. The Wildcats were the only team to finish under par for the tournament.

   After opening with a 4-over 292, Wake Forest moved into contention with the best team round of the tournament, a 6-under 282, in the second round. The Demon Deacons closed with a 3-over 291, leaving them five shots behind Kentucky in second place with a 1-over 865 total.

   Still, it’s been a solid fall for Wake Forest. Its lineup includes two of Castle’s teammates on the U.S. Curtis Cup team at Merion, Emilia Migliaccio, taking a sixth year at Wake Forest after sitting out a season to work as an intern at The Golf Channel, and Rachel Kuehn, a senior from Asheville, N.C., as well as a member of the GB&I team, Lauren Walsh, a senior from Ireland.

   Migliaccio is No. 15 in the Women’s WAGR, Kuehn is No. 8 and Walsh is No. 56.

   It was a very encouraging third-place finish for tournament host and Wake Forest’s ACC rival, North Carolina. After opening with a 5-over 293, the Tar Heels registered a 4-under 284 in the second round before struggling to a 12-over 300 in the final round that left them 12 shots behind the Demon Deacons in third place with a 13-over 877 total.

   North Carolina jumped from No. 50 in the Golfstat rankings to No. 30 in the wake of its solid showing in the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational.

   Kentucky’s SEC rival, No. 43 Tennessee, ended up five shots behind North Carolina in fourth place with an 18-over 882 total. After struggling to a 301 in the opening round, the Volunteers matched par in the second round with a 288 before finishing up with a 5-over 293.

   After its strong start, Duke fell back into a tie for fifth place in the 14-team field with Big Ten champion Michigan, which moved up from No. 32 to No. 21 in the Golfstat rankings following the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational, and another ACC entry, No. 67 Louisville, in a tie for fifth place, each team landing on 19-over 883, a shot behind Tennessee.

   Following its opening-round 287, Duke added an 8-over 296 in the second round and struggled in the final round with a 12-over 300.

   Michigan added a 1-under 287 in the second round to its opening-round 295 before closing with a 301. Louisville bounced back from an opening-round 297 with a 4-under 284 in the second round before finishing up with a 302.

   Backing up Castle for Kentucky was Laney Frye, a senior home girl from Lexington, Ky. who finished a shot out of the playoff between Castle and Brinker with a 6-under 210 total. After opening with a solid 4-under 68, Frye posted back-to-back 1-under 71s.

   Maria Villanueva Aperrbay, a senior from Spain, finished in the group tied for 16^th place with a 4-over 220 total for Kentucky. Villanueva Aperrbay added a 1-under 71 in the second round to her opening round of 1-over 73 before closing with a 4-over 76.

   Kentucky has a nice addition to its roster in graduate student Ivy Shepherd, who was a four-year standout at Clemson from Peachtree City, Ga. After struggling to an 80 in the opening round, Ivy Shepherd bounced back with a 2-over 74 in the second round before matching par in the final round with a 72 that left her in the group tied for 40^th place with a 226 total.

   Rounding out the Kentucky lineup was Marissa Wenzler, a senior from Dayton, Ohio who finished among the group tied for 43^rd place with a 227 total. After opening with a counting 75, Wenzler added back-to-back 4-over 76s.

   Wake Forest’s Migliaccio and Walsh finished in a tied for fourth place, three shots behind Frye, at 3-under 213. Migliaccio got off to a fast start with a 4-under 68 and added a 1-over 73 in the second round before matching par in the final round with a 72. Walsh was her usual steady self, adding a 3-under 69 in the second round to her opening round of 1-under 71 before closing with a 1-over 73.

   North Carolina-Wilmington’s Victoria Levy, a sophomore from Switzerland, and Louisville’s Carmen Griffiths, a sophomore from Scotland, finished in a tie for sixth place, each landing on 1-under 215.

   Levy matched par with back-to-back 72s in both halves of the first day’s double round before finishing up with a 1-under 71. Griffiths matched par in the opening round with a 72 before ripping off a 5-under 67 in the second round and falling back a little in the final round with a 4-round 76.

   Duke’s talented left-hander Erica Shepherd, a senior from Greenwood, Ind. and the 2017 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship winner, headed a group of four players tied for eighth place at even-par 216. Shepherd sandwiched a 2-over 74 in the second round with a pair of 1-under 71s.

   Joining Erica Shepherd in the quartet at even-par were Michigan’s Anika Py, a senior from Traverse City, Mich., Virginia Tech’s Symone Henriques, a senior from South Africa, and host North Carolina’s Kayla Smith, a senior from Burlington, N.C.

   After opening with a 2-over 74, Py added a 2-under 70 in the opening day’s afternoon round before matching par in the final round with a 72. Henriques opened with a 2-under 70, matched par in the second round with a 72 and closed with a 2-over 74. Smith matched par with a 72 in the opening round, added a solid 4-under 68 in the second round and finished up with a 4-over 76.

   Kuehn gave Wake Forest a third finisher inside the top 12 as she headed a trio of players tied for 12^th place at 1-over 217. After opening with a 3-over 75, Kuehn carded back-to-back 1-under 71s.

   It was a bit of a struggle at The Governor’s Club for Duke’s Rylie Heflin, the sophomore from Avondale, Chester County who starred scholastically at Tower Hill. Heflin finished alone in 73^rd place with a 243 total as she opened with a 4-over 76 before going 83-84 in the final two rounds.

   A week earlier, though, Heflin gutted out a 1-up victory over a tough customer in South Carolina’s Louise Rydqvist, a sophomore from Sweden and No. 80 in the Women’s WAGR, to give the Blue Devils a 3-2 victory over the Gamecocks and third place in the Jackson T. Stephens Cup at Seminole.

   North Carolina’s Riley Quartermain, a four-year standout at Haverford High and a product of the junior program at Llanerch Country Club, competed as an individual in the Tar Heels’ home event and made a pretty strong case for a spot in the starting lineup as she finished in a tie for 20^th place in the individual standings with a 5-over 221 total.

   Quartermain matched par in the second round with a 72 after opening with a 2-over 74 and then finished up with a 75.