Thai, Dartmouth Lead Field at Lady Blue Hen Invitational

Saturday, October 15

Rehoboth Beach, Del. / Rehoboth Beach CC

9:00 AM

Dartmouth College

Lady Blue Hen Invitational

Sophie Thai lines up a putt at the Ivy Intercollegiate, Oct. 10, 2022

Freshman Sophie Thai

Photo by: Sideline Photos

Thai, Dartmouth Lead Field at Lady Blue Hen Invitational

10/15/2022 9:17:00 PM | Women's Golf

Results Hole-by-hole scoring

The rookie had 10 birdies in the two rounds to finish at 3-under on the day.

By: Rick Bender

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — Freshman Sophie Thai finished the first two rounds of the Lady Blue Hen Invitational with a 141 (-3) to lead the field and carry the Dartmouth women's golf team to the top of the leaderboard in the 12-team field at 13-over par (295-294—589). The Big Green, which recorded their lowest 36-hole score in relation to par ever, will enter the final round on Sunday with a 5-stroke lead over Penn with 37th-ranked Harvard 11 strokes back.

Thai collected 10 birdies during her 36 holes, three more than any of the 75 players in the field, with five in each round. Her first tour featured a mild wind on the 6,169-yard, par-72 course at Rehoboth Beach Country Club, and she was nearly flawless with 11 pars to go with those five birdies as he carded a 3-under 69, tying the school record for a single round to share the lead with Navy's Bridget Hoang. In the afternoon, the wind starting gusting up to 20 mph, but Thai matched her birdies with bogeys to shoot even par (72) while Hoang fell two strokes back. Quinnipiac's Leeyen Peralta, meanwhile equaled her opening-round 71 to end the day in second, one stroke behind the Big Green rookie.

Two other Dartmouth golfers concluded the day among the top 10 as junior Katherine Sung and freshman Hope Hall came into the clubhouse at 5-over par (149) in a tie for ninth. Hall had an ominous start to her day with a bogey and a double on her first two holes but quickly composed herself with two birdies and 13 pars by the end of the round for a 2-over 74. She got off to a fast start in the second round with a pair of birdies and six pars on her first eight holes before settling for a 3-over 75 while adding one more birdie to her ledger.

Sung was consistent in the morning with a birdie and 13 pars in her round of 75. Her second 18 was a bit more of a roller coaster, starting with a double bogey followed by a birdie, three bogeys after a par, alternating pars and birdies for the next six holes and one final bogey to shave a stroke for a 2-over 74.

A third Dartmouth freshman, Kim Shen, was only one stroke behind Hall and Sung in a tie for 13th. She was in good shape after her first nine holes with seven straight pars and back-to-back birdies, but she had trouble on the second nine with seven bogeys for a 5-over 77. On her second tour, she found her groove with two birdies and 13 pars to card a 1-over 73 and finish at 6-over (150) on the day.

Senior Samantha Yao also competed for the Big Green, completing the two rounds with four birdies in a tie for 47th at 13-over (157).

"Our freshmen really stepped up and played well today," said Alex Kirk, the Carolyn A. Pelzel '59a Head Coach of Women's Golf. "Our scoring on the par 3s and 4s was really solid, but we have room to improve on the par 5s. It really is helpful to have our depth knowing any of our scores can count. Looking forward to tomorrow's round, and we just need to keep playing quality golf, one shot at a time."

The shotgun start for the third and final round will tee off at 9 a.m. on Sunday with the Big Green playing with Penn and Harvard.

Notes: The only player to shoot 3-under in a round for Dartmouth previously was Yao last spring in the Bama Beach Bash at Gulf Shores Golf Club in Alabama … the 3-under for two rounds also matches Yao's 36-hole record set at that tournament … prior to today, Dartmouth had just six team rounds at 295 or better and had scored that low twice in one tournament … the Big Green collected 28 birdies on the day, five more than any other team (Penn 23).