Women’s golf
Northwestern started slow and never recovered.
After a 23-over 311 in the first round put the Cats in 15th place, they improved with back-to-back 18-over 306s in the second and third rounds. But 17th-seeded NU was unable to break into the top eight and earn a bid to the NCAA championships.
The Cats came up 15 strokes short of eighth-place Stanford.
NU finished with a 59-over 923, taking 14th place at the NCAA West Regional championships in Las Cruces, N.M.
“We played better and better each day, ” sophomore Heather Scholten said. “But we didn’t play to our full potential.”
During the first nine holes of the final round, the Cats pulled within a tie for eighth.
But they faded on the back nine, falling to 14th place, one stroke behind Arizona.
UCLA defended its West Regional championship, coming from behind with a 2-under 286 in the final round. Tennessee finished second with a 25-over 889, and California took third place with a 27-over 891.
Only two teams from outside the West, Tennessee and Oklahoma State, finished in the top eight of the West Regional, qualifying for the national championships.
“Talent was never an issue for us,” senior Ina Kim said. “But we were never able to pull through. We never had that one round we were capable of playing.”
The West Regional championships was the last tournament of Kim’s career at NU. The senior from Encino, Calif., finished in a tie for 57th place with a 16-over 232.
She said she was disappointed about her performance in her final tournament but is leaving with a good feeling about the season.
She led the Cats to their first tournament win since 2001 at the Mountain View Collegiate in March, as she had a career-best second-place finish. She also received second-team All-Big Ten honors.
But NU fell short of Kim’s goal of qualifying for the NCAA championships.
Despite coming up short of the national championships for the second consecutive year, the Cats lose only one golfer, Kim, from next year’s lineup.
After the first two rounds at the West Regional, sophomore Alice Kim was in a tie for the second individual bid for the national championships. But she struggled with a 7-over 79 in the final round and finished in a tie for 35th place with a 12-over 228.
Alice Kim ended the season with the best single-season stroke average (75.64) in NU history.
Freshman Brittany Johnston finished in a tie for 48th place with a 15-over 231 in her first regional tournament. Scholten shot a 19-over 235, finishing in a tie for 73rd place. Sophomore Kelly Robb ended in 96th place with a 27-over 243.
California’s Sophia Sheridan won the individual title with a 4-under 212.
With three sophomores and a freshman returning to the lineup next season, the Cats will have depth and experience.
“Every year our potential increases,” Scholten said. “Next year we will be in a familiar position rather than being overwhelmed.”
Reach Scott Duncan at [email protected].
