Indiana surprises by rallying to capture team title in Big Ten Championship at Bulle Rock

 

   There was a time when Indiana was a dominant power in the Big Ten, but it’s been a while.

   But Sunday at Bulle Rock Golf Course, the Pete Dye design that once hosted an LPGA Tour major championship in Havre de Grace, Md., it was the Hoosiers holding the trophy after they edged Michigan State by a shot. It was Indiana’s first Big Ten championship since 1998.

   According to the Indiana website, the Hoosiers were No. 74 in the Scoreboard powered by clippd rankings when the Big Ten Championship teed off Friday. Pretty sure that meant the only way Indiana was going to get a spot in an NCAA regional was by winning the conference crown and they did just that.

   Indiana was led by Caroline Craig, a fifth-year senior from Sautee Nacoochee, Ga. who grabbed a share of medalist honors with Minnesota’s Isabella McCauley, a sophomore from Inver Grove Heights, Minn., and Michigan’s Monet Chun, a senior from Canada and No. 70 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), the trio landing on 7-over-par 209.

   Craig, who spent the first four years of her college career at Southeastern Conference power Georgia, carded back-to-back 3-under 69s in the first two rounds over the 6,314-yard, par-72 Bulle Rock layout before closing with a solid 1-under 71.

   Indiana matched par in Friday’s opening round with a 288 before adding a 3-under 285 in Saturday’s second round. That left the Hoosiers trailing Michigan State by 11 shots going into Sunday’s final round. The Spartans had grabbed the lead with an opening round of 9-under 279, the best team round of the weekend, before adding a 5-under 283 in Saturday’s second round.

   But Michigan State struggled a little in Sunday’s final round with a 7-over 295. Indiana, behind a sparkling 5-under 67 by Caroline Smith, a redshirt junior from Inverness, Ill., and Craig’s 71, put together a solid 5-under 283 for an 8-under 856 total that was one shot better than the Spartans’ 7-under 857 total.

   Smith’s strong finish enabled her to finish in a tie fourth place with Northwestern’s Lauren Nguyen, a senior from Seattle, Wash., each ending up two shots behind the three co-medalists at 5-under 211. Smith had opened with a 1-over 73 before adding a 1-under 71 in Saturday’s second round.

   Northwestern, which came into the Big Ten Championship at No. 9 in the Scoreboard rankings, finished six shots behind Michigan State in third place with a 1-under 863. The Wildcats opened with a 1-under 287 and struggled a little with a 7-over 295 in Saturday’s second round before closing with a 7-under 281 total.

   Nguyen led the way for Northwestern as she opened with a sparkling 5-under 67 and struggled a little with a 2-over 74 in Saturday’s second round before finishing up with a solid 2-under 70 to join Indiana’s Smith at 5-under.

   Time for some breaking news since the NCAA regional qualifiers were unveiled during a live broadcast on The Golf Channel Wednesday afternoon.

   The top three finishers in the Big Ten Championship are all headed to the East Lansing Regional, where Michigan State will be seeded fifth on its home course, the Forest Akers West Golf Course. Northwestern will be the two seed in the East Lansing Regional and Big Ten champion Indiana will be seeded ninth.

   The top five finishers in each regional will advance to the NCAA Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s Champions Course in Carlsbad, Calif. The regionals tee off Monday, May 6.

   I’ll add in the other regional assignments for the Big Ten teams who made it and a couple of the players invited to compete as individuals as they come up in this post.

   Michigan, behind co-medalist Chun, finished in a tie with Purdue for fourth place, each ending up a shot behind Northwestern with an even-par 864 total.

   The Wolverines, who have been playing some solid golf this spring, matched par in the opening round with a 288 and added a 1-under 287 in Saturday’s second round before closing with a 1-over 289.

   It was the second Big Ten individual championship for Chun as she recorded a 6-under 66 in Saturday’s second round following an opening round of 1-over 73 and then finished up with a 2-under 70. Two years ago, Chun unfurled a final round of 5-under 66 at Fox Chapel Golf Club in suburban Pittsburgh to claim the Big Ten individual title and lead the Wolverines to the first team crown in program history.

   Earlier this month, Chun, the runnerup in the 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Chambers Bay, became just the seventh player in the history of women’s college golf to shoot a 61 when she went 10-under on a solar eclipse Monday at Council Fire Golf Club in Chattanooga, Tenn.

   After opening with a 4-over 292, Purdue added a 1-over 289 in Saturday’s second round before finishing strong with a 6-under 282 to join Michigan at even-par.

   Michigan will be a six seed in the Auburn Regional at the Auburn University Club in Auburn, Ala. Purdue is headed for the Las Vegas Regional where the Boilermakers will also be seeded sixth.

   Ohio State, under third-year head coach Lisa Strom, the 1994 PIAA champion during a standout scholastic career at Lansdale Catholic, finished eight shots behind Michigan and Purdue in sixth place with an 8-over 872 total. After struggling in the opening round with a 10-over 298, the Buckeyes matched par in Saturday’s second round with a 288 before closing with a 2-under 286.

   Strom’s Buckeyes also got a six seed as they will tee it up in the Bryan Regional at the Traditions Club in Bryan, Texas.

   Maryland finished a shot behind Ohio State in seventh place with a 9-over 873 total as the Terrapins bounced back from an opening round of 298 by tallying a 1-under 287 in Saturday’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 288.

   Maryland is also headed to the Bryan Regional, where the Terrapins will be seeded seventh. The top seven finishers in the team standings at the Big Ten Championship all earned berths in an NCAA regional.

   Little bit of a disappointing Big Ten Championship for Penn State as the Nittany Lions finished in a tie for 13^th place with Iowa, each landing on 38-over 902. Penn State struggled in the opening round with a 310 before adding a 6-over 294 in Saturday’s second and closing with a 298.

   The Big Ten Championship allowed six players per team in a six-score-four format. The teams that advanced to the NCAA regionals will be limited to five players, so the Big Ten Championship gave coaches one last chance to decide on their regional lineups.

   Backing up the Carolines, Craig and Smith, for Indiana were the Johnsons, Chloe and Faith, sophomores from Evansville, Ind. The Indiana roster doesn’t indicate that the Johnsons are twins or even sisters, but I’m guessing they are twins. Both spent their freshman season at Furman before coming home to Indiana.

   Chloe Johnson finished in the group tied for 23^rd place with a 3-over 219 total as she matched par in the opening round with a 72 and added a 1-under 71 in Saturday’s second round before closing with a 4-over 76.

   Faith Johnson finished among the group tied for 28^th place with a 4-over 220 total as she matched par in the final round with a 72 after registering back-to-back 2-over 74s in the first two rounds.

   Dominika Bordova, a senior from the Czech Republic, finished alone in 54^th place with a 228 total. Bordova struggled in the opening round with a 6-over 78 and in Saturday’s second round with a 77, but her final round of 1-over 73 was a crucial counter for the Hoosiers.

   Rounding out the Indiana lineup was Maddie May, a redshirt sophomore from New Zealand who finished in the group tied for 55^th place with a 229 total. May sandwiched a 3-over 75 in Saturday’s second round with a pair of 77s.

   Perhaps the biggest splash of the weekend was made by Minnesota’s McCauley as she erupted for an eight-birdie, no-bogey masterpiece of a final-round 64 to earn her share of the individual title.

   McCauley, who finished in a tie for second place as a freshman in the Big Ten Championship a year ago at Fox Chapel, had opened with a 2-over 74 and added a 1-under 71 in Saturday’s second round before going off with her 8-under final round to catch Indiana’s Craig and Michigan’s Chun for a share of medalist honors.

   Minnesota finished in ninth place with a 20-over 884 total, but McCauley will represent the Golden Gophers and the Big Ten as an individual in the Auburn Regional. The top individual from a non-advancing team in the regionals earns a trip to La Costa to compete for individual honors in the NCAA Championship.

   Michigan State was led by Jersey girl Katie Lu, a junior from Plainsboro who finished alone in sixth place in the individual standings with a 4-under 212 total that left her a shot behind Indiana’s Smith and Northwestern’s Nguyen.

   Lu was tied for the individual lead going into Sunday’s final round after she added a 4-under 68 in Saturday’s second round to her opening-round 70, but fell back a little by finishing with a 2-over 74.

   Lu’s Michigan State teammate, Paula Balanzategui, a sophomore from Spain, shared seventh place, two shots behind Lu at 2-under 214, with Michigan’s Hailey Borja, a fifth-year player from Lake Forest, Calif., and Illinois’ Isabel Sy, a senior from San Gabriel, Calif.

   Balanzategui opened with a sparkling 5-under 67 and matched par in Saturday’s second round with a 72 before closing with a 3-over 75. Borja opened with a 1-under 71 and added a 1-over 73 in Saturday’s round before finishing up with a 2-under 70.

   Sy recorded back-to-back 2-under 70s in the first two rounds before closing with a 2-over 74. Sy will representing the Fightin’ Illini and the Big Ten as an individual at the Bryan Regional.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the Big Ten Championship individual chase were four players who finished in a tie for 10^th place at 1-under 215, including Northwestern’s Ashley Yun, a freshman from West Covina, Calif., Rutgers’ Leigha Devine, a graduate student from Windsor, Colo., Purdue’s Momo Sugiyama, a junior from Australia, and Ohio State’s Kary Hollenbaugh, a sophomore from New Albany, Ohio.

   Yun came on strong with a final round of 4-under 68 after opening with a 3-over 75 and matching par in Saturday’s second round with a 72. After opening with a 1-over 73, Devine added back-to-back 1-under 71s in the final two rounds.

   Sugiyama sandwiched a 1-over 73 in Saturday’s second round with a pair of 1-under 71s. Hollenbaugh bounced back from an opening round of 3-over 75 with a solid 4-under 68 in Saturday’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Another Big Ten player who received a bid to compete as an individual was Nebraska’s Kelli Ann Strand, a sophomore from Challis, Idaho who will tee it up in the Cle Elum Regional at the Tumble Creek Club in Cle Elum, Wash. Strand finished in a tie for 40^th place with an 8-over 224 total in the Big Ten Championship.

   It looks like Sidney Yermish, the two-time PIAA Class AAA champion at Lower Merion, will be in the lineup for Michigan in the Auburn Regional in their freshman year. Yermish identifies pronoun-wise as they/their/them.

   Yermish joined Strand in the group tied for 40^th place at 8-over at Bulle Rock as they bounced back from an opening-round 78 with back-to-back 1-over 73s in the final two rounds for the Wolverines. It has been a really solid freshman season for Yermish.

   Also in that group at 8-over 224 was one of two Bucks County natives in the Purdue lineup, junior Jade Gu, who was a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Pennsbury. Gu added a 1-over 73 in Saturday’s second round to her opening-round 75 before closing with a 76.

   Also in the Purdue lineup was junior Natasha Kiel, a New Hope native who was a scholastic standout at George School. Kiel sandwiched a 1-over 73 in Saturday’s second round with a pair of 75s to finish among the group tied for 31^st place with a 5-over 221 total. Kiel spent two years at Vanderbilt before transferring to Purdue.

   Leading the way for Penn State was junior Michelle Cox, a three-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Emmaus who finished among the group tied for 23^rd place with a 3-over 219 total. Cox bounced back from an opening-round 79 with a 1-under 71 in Saturday’s second round before closing with a solid 4-under 68.

   Drew Nienhaus, a junior from St. Louis, Mo., backed up Cox as she finished in the trio tied for 28^th place with a 4-over 220 total. After opening with a 3-over 75, Nienhaus tallied a 1-under 71 in Saturday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 74.

   Mathilde Delavallade, a senior from France making her final appearance in the Big Ten Championship, finished among the group tied for 62^nd place with a 230 total as she recorded back-to-back 5-over 77s in the first two rounds before adding a 76 in the final round.

   Myranda Quinton, a sophomore from Canada, finished in the group tied for 72^nd place with a 236 total as she added a 5-over 77 in Saturday’s second round to her opening-round 79 before closing with an 80.

   Rounding out the Penn State lineup at Bulle Rock were Carlota Garcia, a graduate student from Spain, and Victoria Tip-Aucha, a senior from Vienna, Va. via Thailand, both of whom landed in the group tied for 77^th place at 238.

   Garcia added a 5-over 77 in Saturday’s second round to her opening-round 82 before finishing up with a 79. Tip-Aucha bounced back from an opening-round 84 with a 3-over 75 in Saturday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 79.

   A little bit of a disappointing first season at the helm for the Nittany Lions for Kristen Simpson, but Division I women’s golf has never been more competitive and the Big Ten is no exception. Not sure if Penn State will get another chance to compete in the National Golf Invitational, a consolation-prize tournament in much the same way that the National Invitational Tournament has operated in men’s basketball over the years.

   Penn State captured the team crown in last spring’s inaugural NGI at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Ariz.