MARICOPA, Ariz. – The University of San Francisco women's golf team recorded the low round in the finale of the Wyoming Cowgirl Invitational on Tuesday. The Dons carded a 285 and moved up three spots on the leaderboard to capture third, their third consecutive top-3 finish.
USF finished the tournament with a 13-over 877 (294-298-285) at the par-72 Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club. As a team the Dons were locked in, they recorded 35 birdies for the tournament with 16 coming in the final round.
"What an excellent day for the Dons!" said head coach
Sara Doell. "We shot the low round of the day- 285 and jumped up to third place in a solid field. We were led today by
Kimberly Liu who shot a career-low 69, three under par. Kim started with a birdie on her first hole, the par 3 number six and didn't look back! Sam (Gong) played a solid round with seven birdies on the card and finished with a 70. She played very confidently all day, was low for us for the week, as well. We look forward to taking the momentum from this event to the WCC Championships!"
As Coach Doell said, USF was led by senior
Kimberly Liu who carded a career-best 3-under 69 in the final round. Liu finished the tournament tied for 30
th with 54-hole score of 6-over 222. Liu moved up 30 spots on the leaderboard in the final day. She opened the round with a birdie on the par-3 sixth and went on to birdie the 10th, 13
th and 15
th. Her lone blemish of the day was a bogie on the par-4 first.
Sophomore
Samantha Gong finished tied for 11
th with a 1-over 217 after she carded a 2-under 70 in the final round. Gong recorded seven birdies on the day as she climbed 12 spots on the leaderboard.
Senior
Vanessa Ha finished tied for 15
th with a 3-over 219. She carded a 73 on the day, recording a birdie on seventh, 10
th and 16
th to move up one spot into the top-15.
Fellow senior
Emily Laskin finished tied for 46
th after jumping up 14 spots on the leader board. She finished the tournament with a 10-over 226 for the 54 holes. On Tuesday she carded a 1-over 73, her lowest round of the tournament.
Freshman
Joan Soewondo finished tied for 51
st with an 11-over 227 for the tournament. She finished the day with a 6-over 78.
Sacramento State took home the tournament title with a 10-under 854.
GAME NOTES
- The Dons finished with 35 birdies, which is third most in the tournament. They had just 19 as a team after 36 holes.
- USF was also third with 177 pars, just five shy of Sacramento State who led the tournament with 182.
- The Dons were very good on par-4 and par-5 holes on the final day. They finished the tournament with an average score of 4.13 on the par-4s which was second best in the tournament, their average score of 4.92 on the par-5s was tied for third best.
- Gong led the Dons in both of those categories, averaging a 3.97 on the par-4s and a 4.75 on the par-5s.
FROM THE COURSE
NEXT UP
The Dons are off next week and will return to action on April 16 when they travel to San Diego for the West Coast Conference Championships.
