JANE LEE
Assistant Sports Editor
Backed by a strong final effort by senior All-American Carolina Llano, the No.-5 Pepperdine women’s golf team finished 7-over par 295, good for fifth place, at the PING/ASU Invitational that concluded Sunday at Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz.
Llano, who entered the final round tied 46th, fired a final-round 4-under par 68 to finish play at 6-over par 222 and tie for 15th place.
The Waves finished the 54-hole tournament with a 31-over par score of 895 on the par-72, 6203-yard course. Second-ranked UCLA captured the team title with a 1-over par total of 865 to record a one-shot victory over host Arizona State (865). Texas A&M (878) was third followed by USC (893) and Pepperdine.
“Overall, I think we played OK,” freshman Leanne Bowditch said. “We could have played better, but I think we just have to work on getting our games together.”
Junior All-American Eileen Vargas fired a final-round 2-over par 215 to finish fifth at 1-under par 215 in individual honors.
Ahead of Vargas was Adriana Zwanck of Arizona, who claimed individual medalist honors after firing a three-round total of 6-under par 210 to post a one-shot victory over Texas A&M’s Ashley Knoll and UCLA’s Jane Park, who recorded totals of 5-under 211.
Following them was UCLA’s Amie Cochran, who finished fourth with a 3-under score of 213.
Other Pepperdine competitors included sophomore Marina Choi (229), who tied for 37th, freshman Jayvie Agoko (233), who tied for 53rd, and sophomore Leanne Bowditch (231), who tied for 71st.
The course, Bowditch said, presented a challenge for some members of the team.
“It was a really nice course, but the rough was really thick so that made it a little more difficult than in past years,” she said. “The conditions were perfect, though, because it wasn’t too windy.”
In the first round of the tournament, which began March 31, Vargas carded a 3-under par 69 to tie for third place.
Host Arizona State held the lead in team standings following 18 holes of play with a 5-under score of 283. The Sun Devils were the only team to shoot under par on the day and finished five shots ahead of UCLA (288). Behind them were UNLV (290), Pepperdine (292) and Tulsa (293).
Vargas moved up in the individual standings the following day as she carded an even-par 72 on Saturday to tie for second place after 36 holes. She finished the day with a 3-under par 141 to tie with Arizona State’s Tiffany Tavee. Standing just one shot ahead of them was Knoll, who finished at 4-under par 140.
UCLA gained the lead over Arizona State with a 1-over par 577 to hold a four-stroke advantage over the Sun Devils, who finished the day at 5-over par 581. Texas A&M (587) was in third place with USC (593) in fourth while the Waves, who shot a 20-over par 308, finished fifth with a 24-over par score of 600 heading into the final day.
Pepperdine will be back in action April 17 when it begins to defend their West Coast Conference title at the conference championships in Copperopolis, Calif.
“It will take a lot of consistency on our part,” Bowditch said of the upcoming competition. “We’ve won conference the majority of the past years, so we just need to go out there and play our game.”
04-06-2006
