After opening the Northrup Grumman Regional Challenge in second place the Pepperdine women’s golf team fell to a fourth place finish Wednesday Feb. 16 at Palos Verdes Golf Club. Sophomore Danielle Kang led the Waves with a share in third place after rising from 29th place after the opening round.
The rain didn’t damper Kang as she improved throughout play shooting a 77-70-73 for a total of 220 over the three-day tournament.
The Waves shot an 895 collectively setting them up for a tie with Wake Forest. USC Arizona State and UCLA came ahead of Pepperdine with total scores of 884 886 and 887 respectively. Three schools that initially ranked higher than Pepperdine nationally fell below in the final tallies: Michigan State Ohio State and Louisville.
Senior Taylore Karle had a rough final day. After firing a two-over-par 73 on both Monday and Tuesday Karle’s ending-round 87 brought her to tie for 39th place falling from her initial tie for seventh.
With a tied 30th place finish of 229 strokes junior Kaitlin Drolson thought the final day was the toughest.
“Personally I struggled with my putting and approach shots Drolson said in an email. We all grinded out there but it just wasn’t enough.”
Falling from her beginning stance in 14th Drolson shot a 74-74-81 taking the balls on a play-by-play basis.
“Golf is a sport where at any time you can hit a great shot or a bad one she emailed. You just have to try your best on every shot.”
Freshman Grace Na made her collegiate debut in the Northrup Grumman Regional Challenge with a tie for 16th place. She shot a 74-74-76 for a total of 224 putting her at 11 over par.
“Overall I didn’t play as well as I should have Na emailed after the tournament. Each day something went wrong and didn’t go my way. The last day it was tough playing in the rain and it was difficult for a lot of the girls.”
Na took this opening tournament as an opportunity to see her game improve for the next match.
“This was my first tournament and I will take the positive side and take advantage of it for the Bruin Wave Invitational and do my best to perform to my full potential she said.
The three days saw a downward trend for freshman Liv Cheng as she shot a 74-76-79. Her three-day-total 229 tied her with teammate Drolson at 30th place.
Birdies were fewer and farther between as the tournament progressed, not just because of the continually rainier weather. After three birdies on Monday, Karle did not see a single hole under par during Wednesday’s round. Kang shot two birdies as Drolson and Na shot one apiece.
Pepperdine individual player Danielle Gillaspy dropped one place from her Monday 33rd place to a final share in 34th. She shot a consistent 76-77-77 for a 230 total with a birdie both the second and third rounds.
Pepperdine will play again in the Bruin Wave Invitational February 28 and March 1-2 at Robinson Ranch Golf Club in Santa Clarita, Ca.