Call it a case of sibling rivalry.
Senior Ina Kim shot a school-record 5-under 67 in the Mountain View Collegiate championship in Tucson, Ariz., one stroke better than the previous record held by her sister Hana.
Kim’s career-best round led the women’s team to its first team tournament win since 2001.
“Ina has been terrific all year,” coach Chris Regenberg said. “She hit a tremendous amount of birdies. It was exciting and fun to watch her break the record.”
The men’s team spent the week in South Carolina, practicing and playing an exhibition match against Illinois.
In Tucson, Kim finished second individually, two strokes behind Louisville’s Meghan Little.
The Wildcats finished 10 strokes ahead of second-place Idaho and 11 in front of 15th-ranked Missouri, which came in third. The last time the women’s golf team won a tournament was at the USF/Waterlefe Inviational. That 2001 team, which also won the Central District Classic, rose to a No. 7 ranking in the nation, the highest in Northwestern history.
During the past two years, the Cats’ best performances were two third-place finishes.
But with Kim, the team captain, leading a young lineup with two sophomores and two freshmen, Regenberg was able to capture her sixth team title at NU.
The Cats had four top-20 finishers. Along with Kim, sophomore Heather Scholten finished eighth, sophomore Alice Kim finished 12th and freshman Justina Yu finished 15th.
“Depth is so important for us,” Regenberg said. “The No. 1 is pulled by the No. 2. And you need great play from the entire lineup.”
After a successful winter, which included this win and a fifth-place finish in the Texas A&M MoMorial, the Cats have two more tournaments, the Lady Boilermaker Invitational and the Lady Buckeye Invitational, before the Big Ten championships.
The men’s golf team did not play in a tournament for four weeks but used the break to travel to South Carolina, where the Cats won an unofficial match against Illinois.
Coach Pat Goss said the trip gave his team a much needed break and time to improve its game.
“It seemed like when we went south to play, our game also went south,” Goss said.
The Cats had a rocky winter, finishing 15th in the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate championships and the NCAA Puerto Rico Classic.
Junior Dillon Dougherty, who won the Alister MacKenzie Invitational in October, struggled in the winter. But Goss said Dougherty worked through his struggles and played well during the trip to South Carolina.
In the next seven days, Goss said he will have a 54-hole, intersquad qualifier to finalize the lineup before next Friday’s Courtyard by Marriott Intercollegiate in North Carolina.
Reach Scott Duncan at [email protected].
