July 14, 2007
RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. — Team USA came back during the final round to tie the Japanese in the 32nd Annual Fuji Xerox U.S.A. vs. Japan Collegiate Golf Championship at Tijeras Creek Golf Club on Friday. Japan was named the tournament winner based on the number of total strokes, beating the US 2,650 to 2,657.
Jacqui Concolino started the day off with a solid win for the Americans over Hiroko Ayada, 70-76, but Japan’s Eriko Koyama fired back with a six-stroke victory over Selanee Henderson of the U.S. Alison Walshe put her match away by seven strokes against Eriko Kobashi while Jennie Lee defeated Mami Takeda 73-81 to bring Team USA back into the hunt for the win.
The U.S. continued their winning streak with a one-shot win by Rob Grube over Yuta Taniyama. Yuki Usami finished his even-par day with a win over Bronson Burgoon of the U.S. while teammate Jarin Todd took down Yohei Nakamichi, 72-74. Kevin Chappell’s 67 was the low round of the day, good enough to beat Japan’s Daisuke Yasumoto by three. Stephen Goodridge lost the third match of the day for the U.S. to Kentaro Shibata, 69-72 while Daniel Mitchell came through on the last hole to conquer Ryutaro Nagano of Japan. Chris McCartin holed his last shot to tie Japan’s Uta Ikeda and Gary Woodland defeated Kenichi Sawada 73-85 to tie the overall team points, 30-30.
Team USA’s Concolino and Ikeda of Japan were named the tournament MVPs and Japan’s Mami Takeda was presented with the Ambassador award at the closing ceremonies. This marks the first win for Japan in 12 years.