Northwestern runner-up in NCAA Women's Championship

Writing from Sugar Grove, Illinois

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

In the end, Arizona State’s talent was too much for Northwestern. The Sun Devils beat the Wildcats 3.5-1.5 in Wednesday afternoon’s NCAA Women’s Championship match at Rich Harvest Farms, ending the dream of Northwestern to score their first team golf title.

In another sense, the Wildcats won big. Stunned by surrendering a 10-stroke lead in the Big Ten championship and forced to share the title with Michigan State, they buckled down, first advancing to the 24-team final, then winning the stroke-play competition to snag the first seed in match play, and then rallying on Wednesday morning to knock off Southern California, 3-2. The Wildcats had trailed in four of five matches when play was halted on Tuesday night.

“We’ve been pointing to Rich Harvest Farms for quite a few years,” coach Emily Fletcher said. “But we didn’t dream we’d be here with the bright lights and the microphones.”

Only the winner and runner-up get formal interviews – and a team trophy plus individual awards.

“We all feel pretty blessed to be here,” senior Kacie Komoto said.

“Their embrace of some disappointment in the Big Ten a month ago kinda makes it sweeter,” Fletcher said. “There was nothing to hang our heads about.”

Arizona State’s Olivia Mehaffey won the first three holes with two birdies and a par to put Sarah Cho in a hole she never recovered from, falling 4 and 3. Janet Mao and Stephanie Lau of the Wildcats were even or ahead in their matches early, then began to fall back against Roberta Liti and Linnea Strom, respectively, dropping 5 and 4 and 5 and 3 decisions.

When Strom closed out Lau on the 15th green, Northwestern’s Hannah Kim and Arizona State’s Monica Vaughn were on the bridge to the first fairway, having hit their tee shots on the 19th after Vaughn had squared the match at the last with a birdie. That match, now moot, stopped there.

The lone Wildcat win in the final was authored by Komoto, who took the measure of Sophie Zeeb 3 and 1. The match went back and forth on the front, and was squared by Komoto with a birdie on the 11th. She won the 12th with a 20-foot birdie putt, and won the 14th with another birdie and the 15th with a par to go 2 up. A conceded par on the par-4 16th when Zeeb rinsed her approach finished the match.

Northwestern’s previous best finish was last year, a teeth-grinding ninth, when they missed match play by a stroke – though, truth be told, it was only that close because teams ahead of them backed up. Still, from ninth to second with the same team, and only Komoto graduating, indicated the trend is up for Fletcher’s crew.

“This group believed it was going to win the Big Ten championship this year,” Fletcher said. “After we didn’t, we said, ‘We can be better. We learned something about ourselves at the Big Ten. And we decided we weren’t going to feel sorry about ourselves.”

To get to the final against Arizona State, the Wildcats turned around the match against the Trojans in the morning. The comeback was completed by Janet Mao’s defeat of Gabriella Then with a par putt on the 19th hole.

“There was not a doubt in my mind when I stood over that putt,” Mao said.

After the afternoon disappointment went off, the Wildcats came into the press trailer – and were awed by the notion of sitting down before cameras, microphones and lights, and even cups of water. Selfies were taken, giggles were prevalent and the mood was upbeat. That speaks to how obscure, relatively speaking, women’s golf is in college compared to football and basketball.

And how far Northwestern’s women’s program has come.

Around Rich Harvest Farms

Arizona State coach Missy Farr-Kaye on winning the school's eighth NCAA women’s golf title: “This was a grueling championship. I think we left our hotel at 4:30 three days and had 12 hour days. For us, it was, ‘Let’s get to the top eight and see what we can do.” They did so much, they could grab a late dinner at Rich Harvest and watch the Golf Channel replay of their title win on a big screen. ... Arizona State also came from behind in its semifinal to score a 3-2 victory over Stanford. ... Next up at Rich Harvest is the NCAA men’s championship, with practice rounds on Thursday and the first of four stroke-play rounds, weather permitting, on Friday. The top eight teams advance to match play beginning Tuesday, in the same format as the women.

– Tim Cronin

Northwestern faces Southern California in NCAA semifinal

Writing from Sugar Grove, Illinois

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Momentum isn’t a big thing in stroke play golf. One player is playing against the entire field, and unless a birdie putt rolls in on every hole, the field usually has a better chance than the individual.

Match play is completely different. Roll in a long putt for a birdie or a par save, or hole out from a bunker, and the opponent can be shaken.

Northwestern’s women’s team has played a lot of match play this season, and it has showed. Tuesday, the Wildcats scored a 3-2 victory over plucky Kent State to advance to the NCAA Women’s Championship semifinals.

The matchup sounds like the 1996 Rose Bowl: The Wildcats will tee off against Southern California at 2:20 p.m. (Illinois Golfer will have a report on the match later this evening.)

Getting there, though, has been more than half the fun. Even on another rainy day at Rich Harvest Farms – it’s time for owner Jerry Rich to spring for a roof – the Wildcats made enough birdies early to hold off the Golden Flashes late.

The third quarterfinal match was won by senior Kacie Komoto, who subdued Michaela Finn, 2 up with pars on the last four holes, including a critical par save on the par-3 16th after missing the green.

“I had that shot the first day,” Komoto said. “Uphill lie. I followed my game plan and it worked out well.”

Finn needed to birdie the par-5 18th to square the match and earn a half, but bogeyed instead, and the Wildcats were through to the semis.

“Kacie has played great through the last month of the season,” coach Emily Fletcher said. “I wouldn’t write it any other way. She really is a fighter and doesn’t get rattled.”

Match play experience has paid off for the Wildcats.

“We play match play in a lot of amateur tournaments in the summer, like the U.S. Amateur, and this season, we played the men’s team in a match, and a quad against Alabama, Florida State and Duke,” Komoto said. “So it feels very natural. It’s not unusual any more.”

That was precisely the idea behind the scheduling, Fletcher said.

“If you’d have asked them a year ago, they probably would have said they were a little scared of it,” Fletcher said. “We intentionally played a lot of match play this year. I think that’s helped us tremendously. And the men have shown us the way a little bit.”

Batting leadoff, Northwestern’s Sarah Cho raced to a 3-up lead after four holes and scored a 6 and 5 victory over Kelly Nielsen for the first Wildcat point. Hannah Kim won the second point, beating Wad Phaewchimplee 3 and 1 on her match. Kent State’s Karoline Stormo beat Janet Mao, 3 and 2, and the Golden Flashes’ Pimnipa Panthong took the measure of Stephanie Lau, 3 and 1.

Everyone on the Wildcats was on last year’s starting five, and only Komoto will be graduating. Fletcher has built a powerhouse.

“One to five, we’ve got tremendous strength,” Fletcher said. “We’ve been inconsistent all year with everybody firing on all cylinders, and we finally got that this week.”

In the semifinal, Cho played Victoria Morgan, Kim met Robynn Ree, Komoto faced off against Muni He, Mao played Gabriella Then, and Lau faced Tiffany Chan.

Arizona State blanked Florida, 5-0, in its quarterfinal, building on the momentum created when senior Monica Vaughn won the individual title on Monday. Vaughn scored a 2 and 1 victory over Karolina Vickova in her match.

The Sun Devils face Stanford in the other semifinal match, an all-Pacific 12 encounter. Stanford knocked off Baylor, 3-2, while USC was taken nearly to the limit before subduing Ohio State, 3.5-1.5.

– Tim Cronin

Northwestern captures top seed in NCAA Women's match play

Writing from Sugar Grove, Illinois

Monday, May 22, 2017

If you call this year’s NCAA golf carnival the bizarro world version of the game, you wouldn’t be far wrong.

In the three days of NCAA Women’s Championship stroke play competition, the feature moments have included two players penalized for taking a cart to visit a bathroom, two players penalized for giving advice to another member of her team, tee shots hit off an artificial turf mat on one hole, and one day rained out completely even though the course was playable for most of the day.

Welcome to Rich Harvest Farms, where the unusual is expected and the impossible is likely. Throw college golfers into the mix and wild and wacky things take place.

Including right at the top, where Northwestern, which missed the eight-team match play competition by a stroke last year, is the top seed this time around, and will line up with Kent State, with whom they’ve been paired all week, at 7:50 a.m. Tuesday. The Wildcats won the stroke-play team competition – no trophy, no title, just a pat on the head and an “Atta girl” – by eight strokes on Monday, outdistancing Stanford by finishing at 33-over 897.

Hannah Kim’s 1-over 73, highlighted by four birdies and an eagle, led the way. She bounced back from a double-bogey on the par-4 17th with a birdie at the last, a finish that was duplicated by teammates Janet Mao and Sarah Cho.

That mental attitude to stay the course has been the Wildcats’ hallmark this week.

“This is a tremendous achievement by our team and our program,” Northwestern coach Emily Fletcher said. “This is pretty special, amazing. I thought, returning all five players, we had the best lineup, one to five, all year. We finally got all five players going at the same time, and that’s the difference, really.”

“We fell short in a lot of our tournaments this year, especially Big Ten,” Kim said, referencing Michigan State’s 10-stroke final day rally to grab a share of the conference crown with Northwestern. “So we told ourselves we’ve got nothing to lose. This is kind of the time to shine. We can only control what we do.”

Her eagle 3 on the 459-yard second hole was an eye-opener.

“It was not something I was expecting,” Kim said. “But it kick-started my round. It kind of kept me going. It was really tough. I just tried to play consistent, one shot at a time.”

Kim’s 73 was the best Wildcat round of the day and placed her in a tie for 17th at 10-over 226, but Janet Mao (74; 224) led Northwestern with a solo 13th. Kacie Komoto (75; 225) tied for 14th, with Sarah Cho (76) and Stephanie Lau (80) tied for 24th at 13-over 229.

The individual title went to Arizona State senior Monica Vaughn. Finishing on the front nine, she played her last four holes in 2-under to score 1-under 71 for a total of 1-over 217, edging sophomore Jennifer Kupcho of Wake Forest and Leona McGuire of Duke, the world’s No. 1 amateur, by a stroke.

“I had no idea,” Vaughn said of her status down the stretch. “My team did a good job of not telling me. Not until I walked off the green did I know. Then they said 'You won!' and then came the water, on a 55-degree day.”

Vaughn was tremendous, but the title should have been Kupcho’s, who had won the NCAA regional in Athens, Ga. McGuire had scored her 70 in the relative calm of the morning. Kupcho, after going out in 2-under 34 to get to 2-under for the championship, bogeyed the par-4 14th and triple-bogeyed the par-4 17th, hitting her approach shot into the water. She went from two strokes ahead to a stroke behind on the hole.

“I thought I hit it perfect,” Kupcho said. “I got a little bold. The wind had died down a little bit.”

The ball hit the bank in front of the green and caromed back into the water. She three-putted after reaching the green with her fourth shot.

Meanwhile, Vaughn was 1-over with four holes to play, but birdies on the sixth and seventh holes moved her to 1-under moments before Kupcho’s penultimate hole gaffe, and she parred the final two holes of the front nine. The ninth green is about a quarter-mile from the 18th green, but the cheers of her teammates at the ninth could be heard across the prairie when the winning putt dropped.

Kupcho was near tears for a bit, but noted she has a U.S. Women’s Open qualifier later in the week.

“I’ll think about it until I’m on the first tee,” Kupcho said.

The 4-under 68 of Michigan’s Elodie Van Dievoet was the best round of the day, and of the stroke-play portion of the championship.

The day’s oddity was the pair of two-stroke penalties handed Miami’s Renete Grimstad and Dewi Weber for giving advice to a teammate, verboten in the Rules of Golf. That came on top of the two-stroke penalties to Northwestern’s Cho and Kent State’s Kelly Nielsen for using a cart to ride back and forth from a bathroom during Sunday’s second round.

_____

Tuesday morning’s quarterfinal matchups:

Match 1: No. 1 Northwestern vs. No. 8 Kent State; 7:50 a.m.: Sarah Cho (NU) vs. Kelly Nielsen; 8 a.m.: Kacie Komoto (NU) vs. Michaela Finn; 8:10 a.m.: Hannah Kim (NU) vs. Wad Phaewchimplee; 8:20 a.m.: Janet Mao (NU) vs. Karoline Stormo; 8:30 a.m.: Stephanie Lau (NU) vs. Pimnipa Panthong.

Match 2: No. 4 Ohio State vs. No. 5 Southern California

Match 3: No. 3 Arizona State vs. No. 6 Florida

Match 4: No. 2 Stanford vs. No. 7 Baylor

The winners meet in the semifinals beginning at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday’s championship match starts at 2:10 p.m.

– Tim Cronin

Northwestern leads NCAA Women after Round 1

Reporting from Sugar Grove, Illinois

Friday, May 19, 2017

Never mind the cold and the rain, the chill and the darkness.

Northwestern persevered Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Women’s Championship at Rich Harvest Farms, the Wildcats’ score of 13-over-par 31 forging a two-stroke lead over Kent State, with four schools – No. 1 Stanford, Arizona State, Ohio State and Baylor – tied for third.

The pluck of the Wildcats was exemplified by Hannah Kim, their No. 1 player. She scored 3-over 75, but her world-class wedge to four feet at the last for one of only five birdies on the 476-yard par 5 hole. Numerically, that accounted for half the advantage Northwestern held overnight, but there was more.

Stephanie Lau, who also scored 75, posted 1-under 35 on Rich Harvest’s treacherous back nine. Janet Mao scored 1-over 73, the best Northwestern score, after opening bogey-eagle-bogey. Sarah Cho and Kacie Komoto each scored 6-over 78, but in the play five-count four world of college golf, one of them didn’t matter.

What did matter was their tenacity on a day when the high was 46 degrees – at 8 p.m., when the 6 1/2-hour rounds for threesomes were finishing.

“We had to embrace the challenge and really grind it out,” said Mao. “And the wind switched from yesterday. The line of play, the club you use changed.”

Lau speckled her card with three birdies, two on the back nine. Together, the five Wildcats played the maddening last three holes, a par 3-4-5 finish, in 1-over.

“I’m not much of a leader board watcher, but when I saw Northwestern up at the top, I said, ‘Wow, that’s pretty awesome,’ ” Lau said. “I’m proud of the way we fought. I trust that my four teammates will fight for every shot.”

This mentality is ingrained in the Wildcats via coach Emily Fletcher. This week, she had help. Football coach Pat Fitzgerald and men’s basketball coach Chris Collins, who know something about winning, gave the team motivational speeches.

“Fitz gave us the message of trusting ourselves,” Lau said. “We’ve put in the work. Chris Collins was telling us the ‘pound the rock’ story.”

Northwestern, one of 24 teams in the field. missed last year’s match play competition by a stroke by finishing ninth. Three weeks ago, the Wildcats led the Big Ten tournament by 10 strokes with 36 holes to play and ended up tied with Michigan State. They know only one chapter of this story has been written.

“That’s going to remind us of the value of every shot, or two shots,” Fletcher said.

“We’re not going to say our work here is done,” Mao said.

Northwestern was in the late-early wave, with its tee times starting at 8:36 a.m. To Fletcher, that’s good for momentum.

“Get to bed and get back out tomorrow, so I think it’s good,” Fletcher said.

“It felt like an episode of ‘Survivor’ out there today. To post the number we did, I’m so pleased with our play. We made some mistakes, but we played in the present and just played on.”

As they will Saturday, unless a sour weather forecast comes true. Meanwhile, they were off to dinner and their hotel promptly after finishing.

“It’s not much of a rest, but we’re excited about it,” Lau said. “

Purdue’s August Kim and Michigan’s Elodie Van Dievoet are the individual co-leaders at even-par 72. World No. 1 amateur Leona Maguire of Duke and Ireland scored 5-over 77. The field of 132 averaged 80.77.

– Tim Cronin

Billiter wins second IPGA Match Play in three years

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Writing from Hawthorn Woods, Illinois

Jim Billiter felt the pressure in Thursday’s final match of the 66th Illinois PGA Match Play Championship.

It’s tough being the new head pro at the place where the tournament is being played – that being Kemper Lakes Golf Club – and advancing to the final, and having members tooling around on carts rooting you on.

And making sure range balls are on the tee, coffee and donuts available, and oranges on the first tee as well.

All of that isn’t why he was 2 down to Danny Mulhearn of Glen Oak with five holes to play in the championship match. There was pressure there as well. In the end, Mulhearn may have felt it more.

Mulhearn bogeyed the par-4 14th while Billiter scrambled for par after overshooting the green by 10 yards. Billiter squared the match when Mulhearn three-putted the par-5 15th from the fringe, and took the lead with a routine two-putt par on the par-3 17th after Mulhearn’s tee shot ended up in a bunker.

“I didn’t have enough club to get back to the hole (203 yards distant) so I hit 5-iron to the middle of the green and bailed on it,” Mulhearn said. “I had a tough up-and-in there.”

Billiter and Mulhearn matched pars at the last – Billiter making a tremendous approach shot from a fairway bunker – which earned Billiter the 1-up victory and his second match play title in three years. He beat Brian Brodell of Mistwood in 21 holes in 2015 while he was representing the Merit Club.

Mulhearn sank birdie putts on the eighth and 10th holes to erase Billiter’s 1-up lead and take a similar advantage, but hit only two fairways on the back nine. Curiously, Billiter hit only one fairway on the back but scrambled like a wizard.

“Danny played very steady, which put a lot of pressure on me, because I hit some squirrely shots here and there,” Billiter said. “I was pretty fortunate to win this tournament. I didn’t have the swing quite figured out. I was working on a couple things, I’d shot 83 in Peoria. I was not on my game by any means. But the support of the members and staff really helped. I buckled down and tried to do my best for them.”

Billiter, who knocked off three-time champion Curtis Malm 2 and 1 in the morning semifinal, earned $4,800 for his week’s work. Mulhearn beat Garrett Chaussard 4 and 3 in his semifinal.

Mulhearn was also seeking a second IPGA Match Play title, to go with the one he earned over Bob Jan at Wynstone in 1998. He walked in that championship and he walked in this one as well, two matches a day for three days, while Billiter, who didn’t have a caddie, rode.

– Tim Cronin