On Day 3 of the NCAA regional championships in East Lansing, Mich., the Northwestern women’s golf team shot a final round score of 304 – good enough for eighth in a field of 21 teams.
The Wildcats will have to take that strong performance as consolation, though, as they missed an opportunity to travel to Washington for the national championships by finishing 14th overall with a score of 963 – 49 strokes behind first-place Tulsa.
“I think we’re all pretty disappointed in our overall performance,” sophomore Hana Kim said. “I was personally disappointed with how I played.”
Kim finished the three days of play at 240, including a 5-over 77 on the final day. She tied for 53rd overall.
But her strong performance Sunday wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy her.
“I think the team felt that it was nice to end on such a strong note,” Kim said. “But we felt very strongly prior to the start that we’d make the cut, and we didn’t.”
The final day made a significant impact on NU’s standing, vaulting the Cats from 18th to 14th and partially erasing memories of the unimpressive rounds of 334 and 324 that the team collectively shot the previous two days.
But it was too little, too late for the golfers to make the eight-team nationals cut, with the Cats shooting 99 over for the tournament.
“There wasn’t one point during the tournament where we gave up, thinking we wouldn’t make the cut,” Kim said. “Personally, I feel responsible for not putting up better numbers for the school.”
Kim finished second among the Cats, while sophomore Lauren Grzebien notched NU’s top score with a 22-over 238, good for 49th place.
Junior Elizabeth Burden’s Sunday round of 3-over 75 was NU’s top round in the tournament. She shot a 242, placing her third on the team and 63rd in the tournament.
Hana’s sister Ina finished fourth among her teammates (68th overall) with a 243, while senior Emily Gilley rounded out the scoring with a 251 (91st place overall).
The younger Kim fired a 76 in the last round to end her first year of collegiate golf.
“We came back the third day and made up for some of the mistakes (the past two days),” the freshman said. “It’s not too upsetting because we ended well.”
She also pointed out the unfavorable weather conditions on the first two days, including cold temperatures and wind, that hampered NU’s performance. But there were no excuses for the end result.
“It wasn’t pressure,” Ina said. “But going in we had high hopes, and no one did as well as anyone had hoped. It wasn’t just one of us, it was all of us.”
Kim expressed disappointment with her first season at NU.
“I feel like we never really reached our full potential this year,” she said.
Host Michigan State claimed the eighth and final berth to nationals, while Tulsa, Ohio State, Texas, Purdue, Oklahoma State, Michigan and Oklahoma earned the other seven tickets to Washington.
