Wartburg College Fall Invitational
WAVERLY, Iowa (September 10, 2017) -
Howie Samb isn't one to be glued to live scoring when it is available so the UW-Stout women's golf coach relied on Eric Sieger, his counterpart from Carleton College, to update him Sunday on the drama unfolding in the final round of the Wartburg Fall Invitational.
"He kept saying, 'This is a dogfight! This is a dogfight!'" Samb said.
Indeed, it was.
With first-round leader St. Catherine's faltering, Stout and Carleton battled to the final group before the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference power escaped with a 616-618 win over the reigning WIAC champion Blue Devils at Prairie Links GC. The Knights' four scoring golfers played the final three holes in 1-under-par to hold off Stout, which was just 2-over.
Stout, which shot 310-308 over the two days, broke the 36-hole school record by two shots. The Blue Devils shot 620 at the 2014 Wartburg Fall Invitational.
First-round leader
Rachel Hernandez shot 75 to finish third overall at 1-over 145. The Blue Devils also counted a 75 from sophomore
Madison McCambridge, who tied her collegiate career low; a career-low 77 from sophomore
Trystin Kluess; and an 81 from
Marie Allo.
"It was a big thing to get in that last group," Samb said of playing Sunday with Carleton and reigning MIAC champion St. Catherine's, which shot 326 and took third. "It's more of a situation like we'll have at (the) conference (meet) where each shot seems to feel more important."
That was precisely the case for Hernandez, who followed up her school-record 70 with a 75 and finished third with a school-record 36-hole total of 1-over-par 145 -- four shots better than Britt McNett-Emmerich's 149 at the 2015 Carleton Invitational. She finished two shots behind Brooke Klostermann of Wartburg, who shot 3-under 69 on her home course; and playing partner Alyssa Akiyama of Carleton, who played her final three holes in 1-under for 70 to catch Klostermann.
Hernandez offset four bogeys with birdies over the first 13 holes -- going bogey-birdie at Nos. 1 and 2, 8 and 9 and 10 and 11 -- and held the lead until an errant approach shot on the par-5 14th hole led to a double-bogey. She made birdie putts of 1 foot on No. 3, 16 feet on No. 6, 8 feet on No. 9 and 4 feet on No. 11 and never took her foot off the gas the entire round.
"My mindset was to keep making good turns with a good tempo and keeping my hands soft on my putting to stay consistent," Hernandez said after her career weekend. "I also focused on having fun because the people i was playing with were a lot of fun."
McCambridge made the biggest move of any golfer in the top 40, moving up 17 spots to finish tied for 18th. A stretch of four straight bogeys on the back nine kept her out of the top 10.
Kluess hit 14 of 18 greens -- making her 29-for-36 for the weekend -- but took just 36 putts (five fewer than Saturday). Her 77 was bettered the 78 she shot at the 2016 WIAC Championship.
"I think the things we talk about are starting to set in a little bit," Samb said. "The idea that we're going to play on the weekend like we practice during the week, I think that's probably starting to resonate a little bit. Overall, I think today was just another step in the process of becoming a more consistent team. ... I think we're headed in the right direction.'
Sophomore
Alexa Filipiak, who shot 79 Saturday, struggled to an 87 and tied for 49th. Freshman
Alyssa Bee shot 89 and tied for 75th at 173.
The Blue Devils will return to action Saturday at the DIII Midwest Classic at The Jewel GC in Lake City, Minnesota.
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