Blue Devils bounce back, win UW-Oshkosh Classic

UW-Oshkosh Titan Classic Leaderboard | Team Results

OSHKOSH (September 3, 2017) - The sun came out Sunday at Oshkosh CC and it shined brightly on the UW-Stout women's golf team during the marathon final round of the 12-team UW-Oshkosh Titan Classic.

What looked to be a modest step in the right direction for the Blue Devils over the final round turned into a stunning, nine-shot victory for the defending WIAC champion.

Senior Rachel Hernandez and sophomores Madison McCambridge and Alexa Filipiak all shot 8-over-par 81s in the final round as the Blue Devils closed with a 326 and prevailed with a 666 total. They also counted an 83 from junior Marie Allo, throwing out an 88 from senior Haley Seifert, in topping host UW-Oshkosh (334), which had the medalist in Hannah Braun (73).

"The bottom line is I was proud of the way they competed," said Stout coach Howie Samb, whose program last won a tournament with 10 or more teams in 2014 when it won the Mad Dawg Invitational at UW-Stevens Point.  "They worked hard. Everybody worked hard."

Three Stout golfers finished in the top 10 overall -- McCambridge (81-81), who finished third; Hernandez (84-81), who finished fourth; and Filipiak (90-81), who rallied to tie for 10th. Allo (89-83) missed by one shot giving the Blue Devils a fourth golfer in the top 10, placing 12th.

Stout sophomore Trystin Kluess, competing as an individual, shot a pair of 88s to tie for 23rd. Kluess had the best 36-hole score among the 13 golfers who were competing as individuals.

"Overall, they hung in there," Samb said. "The golf course is tough. And they had a long day."

Earlier in the day, Stout completed 11 holes of Saturday's rain-delayed first round with a 340 and led by one shot over host UW-Oshkosh and Illinois Wesleyan entering the afternoon. The Blue Devils counted an 81 from McCambridge, an 84 from Hernandez, an 86 from Seifert and an 89 from Allo, tossing a 90 from Filipiak. McCambridge's score was the second-best of the round behind a 77 from Wisconsin native Maggie Warrner, a freshman at Illinois Wesleyan.

As good as Stout's round was in relation to the field during the final round, it still had its ups and downs. The Blue Devils counted two triple-bogeys and four double-bogeys among its top four scores over the final 18 holes, but also had five birdies (three of them from Hernandez).

"The good news is we left baskets full of strokes out there," Samb said. "Too many three-putts. Too many poor decisions. Their course management was not too good at times. … So I guess that's a positive -- we got it in the 320s in the second round without playing our best."

Stout will return to action Saturday at the Wartburg Invitational in Waverly, Iowa.

"It will be a good test in Iowa," said Samb, whose team is paired with Minnesota powers Carleton and St. Catherine's -- two teams that, like the Blue Devils, competed at the NCAA Division III Championships in Houston this past spring. "We've got a lot of stuff to clean up."