PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. – The Vanderbilt women’s golf team finished in 13th place at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge against a stacked field Tuesday.
In the 16-team field, the Commodores fired a 12-over-par 296 in the final round, posting their best round of the 54-hole tournament. The 43-over par performance put the Dores 47 strokes back of champion Oregon (-4), who was the only team to finish under-par after the 54-hole event.
The par-71 course that is 6,017 yards in length certainly challenged the field of top college golfers. The average score among the individual field is 74.53 after the three-day event. Out of 84 individuals, five finished the 54-holes under par.
“I thought we played with a lot of heart today,” said head coach Greg Allen. “Obviously this wasn’t our week, but we will leave it behind and start getting ready for the Clemson Invitational next week.”
Fifth-year senior Louise Yu (+8) topped Vandy’s final-round performance by carding 2-under-par 69. Yu was steady for the day, carding three birdies and only one bogey on the day. She improved 28 spots from the start of the tournament to finish in the top 30.
“I thought Lou (Louise Yu) looked as good today as I’ve seen her in a long time,” noted Allen. “She really carried us today.”
Joining Yu in the top-30 is senior Auston Kim (+8), who battled for a 5-over-par final round Tuesday. Kim also finished in a four-way tie for first in par-5 scoring (4.44, 5-under). Both Yu and Kim finished in an eight-way tie for 30th after 54-holes.
Showing improvement over the tournament, junior Celina Sattelkau (+14) finished for a tie of 54th, while freshman Natasha Kiel (+15) tied for 60th. Sophomore Virginie Ding (+20) tied for 71st, while junior Jayna Choi (+24), who competed as an individual, tied for 77th to complete the three-day event.
Wake Forest’s Rachel Kuehn went wire-to-wire to win the individual medalist title with a three-day total of 10-under-par 203. The victory also earned Kuehn an LPGA exemption into the JTBC Championship at Palos Verdes next month.
“These last two weeks have been a little rough, but I keep reminding them we’ve played, in my opinion, two of the toughest golf courses in women’s golf,” said Allen. “I know we are getting better and I do believe this will help us down the road in postseason.”
The Dores conclude the regular season next week at the Clemson Invitational (March 25-27) in Sunset, South Carolina. In 2019, the Dores captured the team title at the event and matched a program record of tournament wins in a single season (2018-19), which is shared by the 2003-04 squad. Individually, Kim tied for third overall with 7-under par, while Yu tied for 18th with 1-under par.
