Women win Prospect Bay Intercollegiate

Sunday, April 3

Grasonville, Md. / Prospect Bay GC

All Day

Dartmouth College

Prospect Bay Intercollegiate

All five players secured spots among the top 25 in the field to win the tournament.

Photo by: Larry French

4/3/2022 5:04:00 PM | Women's Golf

FInal Results Hole-by-hole scoring

Alex Kirk's crew led pretty much from start to finish and won the tiebreaker to claim the trophy.

By: Rick Bender

GRASONVILLE, Md. — It came down to the wire, but the Dartmouth women's golf team won the Prospect Bay Intercollegiate on Sunday with a score of 302-317-312—621 (+67), beating out Penn in a tiebreaker to claim the team trophy. Sophomore Katherine Sung tied two others atop the individual leaderboard, but she lost the tiebreaker and settled for runner-up as all five Big Green golfers finished in the top 25 of the 83-player field.

As a team, the Big Green led the 15-team field with 25 birdies, five more than Penn and Lehigh, and had the best combined scores on the par-3 (+12) and par-4 (+62) holes, while second only to Penn on par-5 scoring (+25). Sung and freshman Claire Xu had seven birdies apiece, more than any other golfer in the 83-player field, with senior Kristen Chen had six of her own on the 6,136-yard, par-72 course at Prospect Bay Country Club.

Dartmouth entered the final round with a six-stroke lead over the Quakers, and maintained that margin essentially for the first 12 holes. Xu added a birdie on 13 — her third of the day — but the lead began to shrink. Penn caught the Green in the final two holes, but Dartmouth did just enough, including pars by Chen and Sung on the final hole, to remain tied atop the standings. The determining tiebreaker was settled by the fifth (non-scoring) golfer for each team today, and sophomore Penelope Tir's 81 (+9) bested that of Penn's Abigail Wiranatha (+11), giving the Big Green their first tournament win in six years.

"I couldn't be happier with our team performance this weekend," said Alex Kirk, the Carolyn A. Pelzel '54a Head Coach of Women's Golf. This is a special group of ladies and truly a great group to work with. We have one more match before the Ivy League Championship to clean up a few things, but I always like our chances with this team."

Sung began the day tied atop the leaderboard and immediately sunk a birdie on the first hole to take the lead all by herself. She finished the front nine at 1-over par, but Lehigh's Madison Pineda — who was playing in Sung's group — had two birdies to take a two-stroke lead at the turn. Pineda double bogeyed 10, however to fall back into a tie, and after both players bogeyed 13, Pineda suffered a triple bogey on 14, allowing Sung to take the lead.

Back and forth it went as Sung struggled on the next three holes and entered the final hole with another player in her group, Quinnipiac's Kaylee Sakoda, trailing Pineda by a stroke. Both Sung and Sakoda made par on the 516-yard par-5 18th, but Pineda bogeyed the hole, setting up a three-way tie at 13-over par (229). But Sakoda won the match of cards with the best back nine score to win the tiebreaker.

Chen joined Sung in the top 10, tying for sixth overall. The senior dropped two birdies on the front nine to reach the turn at even par on the day, then had seven pars on the back while finishing the tournament at 75-81-76—232 (+16).

Xu added three birdies to her ledger today and shot a 6-over 78 for her final round. That left her just outside the top 10 at 20-over (236), tying her with two others for 11th place.

Junior Samantha Yao also ended up in the top 20 with a 240 (+24) after shooting an 8-over 80 today, while Tir was just two strokes behind her in a tie for 22nd.

Dartmouth plays again in two weeks at the Howard Invitational on April 16-17.