Site: Greensboro, N.C.
Course: Champions Course at Bryan Park (Par 72, 6,305 yards)
Tournament: Bryan National Collegiate
HPU Team Standing: 11th of 11 teams (308-306-318–932, +68)
Top HPU Individual: Danielle Suh (73-75-74–222, +6), T-24th
Next HPU Round: Monday, October 11 — at Pat Lesser-Harbottle Invitational (Tacoma, Wash.)
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The High Point University women’s golf program finished in 11th place at the Bryan National Collegiate on Tuesday (Sept. 28) in the first of two events the Panthers will play in the Triad this fall.
“This week was a huge opportunity that, quite simply, we didn’t take advantage of in any respect,” head coach Alexis Bennett said after the tournament. “It’ll take a few days to process given that I haven’t had a team in this position in my career thus far, but my hope is that we can use it as fuel to the motivational fire and not just sweep it under the rug before reflecting on what adjustments need to and can be made so that we don’t ever find ourselves in this position again.”
Sophomore Danielle Suh led HPU at six-over for the tournament and a share of 24th place. Her classmate, Vynie Chen, tied for 55th place at +22, followed by Olivia John tied for 61st at +26 and Sarah Kahn in 64th at +29. Sophie Caldon was competing as an individual in the event and tied with Chen for 55th place with a score of 22-over. Freshman Minonna Falkman Lehes was also playing for the Purple and White but was disqualified after the final round from signing an incorrect scorecard.
“I knew after graduating an anchor in Samantha [Vodry] we’d be in a more vulnerable position this fall as our lineup has a lot of youth,” Bennett continued. “We seem to be able to put two scores together thus far so it’s time to find the next pair of anchors and see who is able to step up to fill out the four scores needed to truly be competitive.”
Suh had the most consistent week of the Panthers and turned in all three rounds in the mid-70s. She started with a team-best 73 in the first round before firing rounds of 75 and 74. Four of her six birdies in the tournament came on par-5s and she didn’t card anything other than a par on the remainder of the 5s for a score of -4 on the long holes, tied for the third-best par-5 score in the field.
Chen started the event with a 74 for High Point’s second-best round on Sunday. Her second round didn’t go as well as that score fell to an 85 and she ended the event Tuesday with a 79. John bookended her week with a pair of 82s in the opening and closing rounds and took off five strokes in the middle with a 77. Kahn had an uncharacteristic tournament that saw her with all three rounds in the 80s – an 81 and then a pair of 82s. Caldon also had an 82 – hers coming in the first round – before she improved the following two days with a 79 and a 77.
Co-hosts Wake Forest charged up the leaderboard on the final day with an eight-under, 280, to finish at -14 for the event as the only team multiple strokes under par in the tournament. Charlotte was the only other team under par at Tuesday’s end at one-under after a seven-under, 281, in the final round moved the 49ers into second place. UCF, Campbell, and Old Dominion all tied for third at +8 to round out the top five. Charlotte’s Kaiyree Moodley took home medalist honors at -7 after three rounds under par and held off Old Dominion’s Jana Melichova’s late push on Tuesday, who shot a tournament-best 67 to tie for second with Wake Forest’s Rachel Kuehn at -6.
High Point goes from playing in the Triad to almost as far away as the Panther could be as HPU heads across the country to Tacoma, Washington for the Pat Lesser-Harbottle Invitational on Oct. 11-12.