Huskies Three-Peat as Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational Champions

Tuesday, October 11

Tacoma, WA

All Day

University of Washington

Pat Lesser Harbottle Invite

Huskies Three-Peat as Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational Champions

October 11, 2016 | Women's Golf

TACOMA, Wash. – The reigning national championship women's golf team opened it's 2016-17 season with a bang as it took home the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational title for the third-straight year, finishing with a 16-over 880 (291-298-291). Additionally, sophomore Julianne Alvarez repeated as the individual champion after closing the three-round event with a 3-under 213. The Huskies have now won five of their last 13 events dating back to last season and 10 of their last 21 regular season tournaments since the start of the 2014-15 season.

"I am really proud of how we came out and played today to get the win," said head coach Mary Lou Mulflur. "We were a little more settled down and comfortable which was good to see, especially after a 36-hole day. It's great to start the season on a good note and I'm looking forward to seeing us continue to improve and grow as the season goes on."

Alvarez saved her best round for last as she knocked in a 3-under 69 Tuesday morning following her rounds of 1-under 71 and 1-over 73 on day one. The sophomore has now won two individual titles over 14 events as a Husky, which is tied for ninth all-time at UW. Her final round included five birdies including one to start the day on hole one.

"Julianne just has a way of rising to the occasion and she knew she had to play well today against tough competition and went out there and did that," said Mulflur. "She opened with a nice birdie on the first hole and was really just hitting the ball extremely well. Chessey [Thomas] did a great job working with her on the back nine to keep her focused en route to winning for the second-straight year. That's a hard thing to do and it was impressive to see."

Sophomore Sarah Rhee also carded her best round of the event over the final 18 as she climbed into a tie for sixth finishing at 3-over 219 (74-73-72). Rhee entered the day tied for eighth, but used an even-par 72 to jump up and record her second career top-10 effort.

"Sarah has matured so much, every time she's out there, she just keeps getting better," said Mulflur. "The way she approaches things and her ability to manage herself on the golf course gets better every time she's out there and that's what you have to do to put yourself in a position to succeed."

Playing in the rotation for the first time since April a year ago, sophomore Clementina Rodriguez had a stellar round on Tuesday en route to her first career top 15 finish as a Dawg. She carded an even-par 72 in a round that featured four birdies over the final 18 holes to finish tied for 12th at 7-over 223 (74-77-72).

"It was great to see Clementina come through today when we really needed her," added Mulflur. "She worked extremely hard over the summer and to see her improve as the tournament went on was great. She was a real trooper out there today."

Freshman Ellen Takada followed closely behind Rodriguez as she earned her first top 25 collegiate finish as she turned in a 9-over 225 featuring rounds of 72-75-78 to tie for 18^th. Rounding out the UW crew was sophomore Wenyung Keh who shot a 15-over 231 to tie for 35^th (74-78-79).

Three UW newcomers competed as individuals as freshman EunWon Park tied for 46^th at 17-over 223 (84-77-72) following her even-par final round which moved her up 16 spots on the leaderboard. Joining her was freshman Esther Yin and transfer Christina Wang who each tied for 59^th with final scorecards of 20-over 236.

The Huskies won't have to wait long to get back on the course as they head to California for the Stanford Intercollegiate, which will take place Friday-Sunday, Oct. 14-16.