University of Washington
Regional Challenge
UW Wins Team Title at Northrop-Grumman Challenge
February 10, 2016 | Women's Golf
PALOS VERDES, Calif. – The No. 14 University of Washington Women's Golf Team opened its spring season with a bang on Tuesday as the Huskies took home the team title at the prestigious Northrop-Grumman Regional Challenge that featured 11 teams ranked in the nation's top 25, including the top three teams in the country.
Easily one of the best tournaments of the spring season, Washington set a tournament record at the Palos Verdes Golf Club with its 6-over 858. UW defeated No. 1 USC by 19 strokes and No. 2 Duke and No. 3 UCLA by 20 strokes.
“What an amazing, amazing week,” said head coach Mary Lou Mulflur. “This may be the most impressive win that we have had in our program history. It validates what we have been doing. I'm really proud of our squad. Man can this group finish. We just kept plugging along and then within five minutes of each other Wenyung Keh and Julianne Alvarez hit a hole-in-one and an eagle and it just flipped. It was just really impressive the way that we responded, stayed patient and battled in this tough field.”
Washington finished the three-round tournament with a 6-over 858 after posting the best rounds on Monday (288) and Tuesday (285). The Huskies have won eight of their last 15 regular-season tournaments and have claimed two team titles this year.
“It was very impressive that we were able to record the tournament record,” said Mulflur. “That golf course is so difficult and it tests you on every single shot, you really can't take one off and they managed to handle that which was really fun to see.”
The Huskies were led by senior Charlotte Thomas who carded a 1-under 70 in the final round to finish tied for second overall at 1-under 212. She climbed three spots on the final day thanks to three birdies. Thomas has now finished in the top 10 22 times in her career, which is tied for second all-time at UW.
“Charlotte was unbelievable and to come in on a very hard golf course and to play the way she played was so impressive,” added Mulflur. “This performance against such a tough field was so exciting to watch and is a great confidence builder for her. Charlotte just ran into a buzz saw. The way Monica Vaugn (6-under 65) played today, no one was going to beat her.”
The Huskies had a pair of extraordinary performances on the back nine to help vault them to their first place finish led by Wenyung Keh's hole-in-one on the par-3, 162-yard hole 15 along with Julianne Alvarez's eagle on the 453-yard par-5 hole 16.
“Wenyung's shot was just unbelievable. She hit the ball from the left and it probably dropped two feet in front of the hole and went right in, such an amazing thing to witness,” added Mulflur.
Washington placed three in the top five on the player leaderboard. Following Thomas was senior Ying Luo who notched a 2-over 73 over the final 18 holes to finish the event at 1-over 214, which was good for a fourth-place tie.
Also tied for fourth was freshman Alvarez who jumped up 11 spots in the third round as she carded a 3-under 68, which tied for the second best round of the day. Alvarez was solid on the back nine as she was even on holes 10-16 before knocking in an eagle on the par-5 16th hole followed by a birdie on hole 17 (par-4).
Keh provided the day's highlight shot with her hole-in-one on the 15th hole. She finished the day at 3-over 74 to move her three-round total to 5-over 218. Rounding out the UW crew was freshman Clementina Rodriguez who finished a 28-over 241 to finish tied for 76th.
Up next the Huskies head to the Peg Barnard Invitational, Saturday Feb. 13-14 in Stanford, Calif.
Players Mentioned
