URBANA – With six holes left to play in her final round at the Big Ten championships on Sunday, Northwestern sophomore Hana Kim was hungry, fatigued and cold.
“I was tired and I hadn’t eaten, so I knew my concentration would be off,” Kim said. “I just tried to keep my focus and I parred out, which was really important for my round.”
Kim came in with a 78. That score tied for the fifth-best round Sunday, when 40 mph winds, drizzle and 40-degree temperatures inflated scoring across the board. Her four-round total of 312 was tied for 12th place overall, which was NU’s best individual finish.
The other NU golfers didn’t fare so well in the later rounds. No one other than Kim notched a round in the 70s in either Round 3 or Round 4 for the Wildcats, and NU finished seventh in the team standings at 123-over 1275.
“I thought we would have moved up,” Kim said, “but I guess some of the other teams rallied.”
NU senior Emily Gilley shot 39-over 327 in her final Big Ten event, despite a solid first-round 75.
“(The Sunday weather) definitely did not fit my game,” Gilley said. “These were the windiest conditions I’ve ever played in, and I’ve been playing for 14 years.
“I always thought of Big Ten players as tough, weather-wise … but this really topped it all.”
The average score at Stone Creek Golf Club was about 78 for the two opening rounds Friday, but the mean for Round 3, which was interrupted by rain Saturday and finished Sunday morning, soared to 83.9. The field averaged almost 85 in Round 4.
But Kim used the wind — and a putting lesson from her little sister Ina, a freshman golfer for NU — to her advantage and was able to combat the elements.
“She fixed my putting after the first two rounds,” Hana Kim said. “You can credit my playing to that. My first two rounds I shot 77, which was terrible. And it was because I
couldn’t putt. But she worked with me on my putting after that.”
Ina Kim shot 35-over 323 for NU’s third-best score. Junior Elizabeth Burden was one shot better, while Lauren Grzebien tied Gilley at 327 and Erin Breslin shot 57-over 345 to round out NU’s squad.
Ohio State junior Mollie Frankhauser won her second straight individual title with a 16-over 304. Her fourth-round score of 78 vaulted the Buckeyes past No. 22 Purdue in the team standings to give No. 4 Ohio State a second consecutive Big Ten title and its eighth crown since 1982.
The host Fighting Illini, ranked No. 57, had the fourth-best round on Sunday, securing fifth place for the team. Four teams ranked ahead of the Fighting Illini — including No. 32 NU — finished behind them in the standings.
The Cats, who finished second in 2001, will likely get another chance at Ohio State and several other Big Ten teams at the NCAA Central regional, to be held May 9-11 at Michigan State.
“There is a level of disappointment in the finish,” Regenberg said. “But at this point in the season, we’re not done yet. Some of the ball striking this week was actually an improvement. Some of the putting was an improvement. We just need to build with those small steps.”
