In the 14-year history of the Northwestern women’s golf program, never once had someone won medalist honors at the Big Ten Championships.
However, that all changed Sunday as junior Alice Kim claimed the individual title for her first tournament victory of her collegiate career.
Kim rewrote a few pages of the Big Ten record books during the first three rounds of the tournament.
Her 36-hole score of 140 was the lowest in the history of the Big Ten Championships. Kim’s 4-under 68 in the first round was the lowest round of her collegiate career. After shooting a 2-over 74 in the third round, Kim tied the lowest 54-hole score in the conference tournament’s history.
“This is an incredible tournament to win,” coach Chris Regenberg said. “She’s a great player. She’s had some great tournaments in the past. As far as her collegiate career, this really takes it up a big step. I think on the inside it will give her a lot of confidence for next year.”
Kim took a two-shot advantage over Michigan State’s Sara Brown heading into Sunday’s final round. Playing in very difficult conditions, Kim shot a 77 to hold off Brown by one stroke and earn medalist honors.
While the first three rounds featured decent weather, the final round had periods of rain showers and gusting winds. As a result, none of the 66 players in the field were able to shoot par or better in the final round, with the lowest round being a 1-over 73.
“It was definitely difficult out there, and the course was playing longer than it was the past two days,” Kim said. “The greens were holding a little bit better, but they were still really fast. The wind was making everything a little bit harder. In general, it was just difficult out there today.”
Kim finished in the top 15 in four of her five previous events leading up to Big Tens.
In her collegiate career, Kim had 11 top-10 finishes before this week, two of which came earlier this year. In the Central District Invitational, the team’s first tournament of the spring, Kim held the lead after the first two rounds but was unable to hold on in the final round and settled for fifth.
“It feels great,” Kim said. “I’ve been looking for a win for a while, and it feels nice to finally get one, especially one that counts for a lot.”
As a team, the Wildcats placed fifth, finishing behind champion Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan State and Michigan.
The fifth-place showing was around where the Cats expected to finish.
“We always have our hopes set high for a win or a top-three finish, but when you go against such good teams, you just kind of have to take what you can get and hope for the best,” junior captain Heather Scholten said.
In addition to Kim’s victory, freshman Jennifer Hong finished in 22nd place, 19-over par for the week. Her final round of 80 tied her worst round of the season.
Sophomore Brittany Johnston placed 30th after she carded three 79s and a third round 73.
After sophomore Katie Trachok was forced to withdraw due to illness, sophomore Justina Yu saw her first action of the season, recording a 47th-place finish.
Rounding out the NU contingent, Scholten finished in 54th place after shooting a pair of 85s in the third and fourth rounds.
“I think a lot of us saw both good and bad things,” Scholten said. “The scores weren’t where we hoped they would be, but we played well at times.”
For the sixth time in the last seven years, the team qualified to compete in the NCAA Regional Championships.
The Cats received their bid over the weekend and will be heading to Texas A&M, the host school of the Central Region, as the 16th seed of the 21 teams in the region. Regional competition begins May 11.
The top eight teams from each region advance to the NCAA Championships.
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