The University of Wisconsin women’s golf team hosted their annual Badger Invitational at University Ridge from Sept. 14 to Sept. 16, finishing seventh out of the 15 teams in attendance. Illinois ran away with this one, shooting 16-under par as a team, winning the event by 16 strokes. As a team, Wisconsin finished the event 21-over par.
The Badgers started round one with some solid scores. Junior Kate Brody helped lead the way, holing three birdies on her way to a round of one-over. Redshirt junior Tammy Wu matched Brody to a tee, holing three birdies and a round of one-over.
Sophomore Lauren Sammon continued the trend of strong first rounds, holing one birdie in her round of two-over. Senior Alexia Siehl and sophomore Izzi Stricker both fired rounds of four-over, Stricker with two birdies, Siehl with one.
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All three Badger freshmen participated in the event, but as individuals. So their scores did not count towards the team, but they were able to participate amongst all players in the field. Among the freshmen, Grace Slocum had the best first round at four-under. Elyssa Abdullah shot five-under, while Hadley Ashton shot six-over.
On day two, Siehl responded with two birdies and a round of one-over, while Brody continued her strong play with three birdies and another round of one-over. Sammon played one shot worse, carding a strong round of three-over.
Wu and Stricker struggled more, shooting rounds of five and eight-over, respectively. As for the freshmen, Abdullah played wonderfully, carding three birdies a round of one-over. Slocum also had a really solid round, going three-over. Ashton unfortunately struggled, shooting 15-over par, even after holing a birdie.
Through two rounds, the Badgers found themselves in seventh place at their home course, right in the middle of the pack and with work to do in the third and final round.
Sammon fought hard on day three, holing four birdies on her way to an even par round. She moved up 10 spots on the player’s leaderboard, finishing in the top 20 with a 19th place finish — a wonderful bounce back after her 57th place finish at the season-opening Wolverine Invitational.
Brody finished round three with her third straight round of one-over, with another three birdies. This dropped her one spot on the player’s leaderboard, but she still finished in 16th and like Sammon, bounced back from a tough first tournament, whereas Brody finished in 65th.
Wu responded with a two-birdie, one-over third round that moved her up six spots into a tie for 28th, an improvement from her 33rd place finish last tournament. Stricker holed three birdies on her scorecard of three-over, as she stayed put at 58th in her first tournament of the year
Siehl fell 14 spots after her five-over final round, finishing the event in 35th. So far this season, she has finished both events inside the top 35.
Abdullah and Slocum continued their strong play with rounds of one-under, tying the Badger-low round of the week and two-over in their respective final rounds. Abdullah finished her first career collegiate event, despite not being in the lineup, inside the top 20, with a 19th place finish. Undoubtedly, an exciting start for Abdullah’s young career. Slocum, after making the lineup for the first time at the Wolverine Invitational — and finishing in 60th — finished the Badger Invitational in a tie for 40th.
Ashton cut her second round score in half in the final round, shooting seven-over in a two-spot climb for a 75th place finish.
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The Badgers concluded this event with a seventh place finish. Though the Badgers improved from their ninth place finish last event, it’s still a disappointing result for an event taking place on their home territory.
This event showed promise, as there were some strong rounds from all players, including the freshmen. The Badgers have simply yet to have a round where everyone plays well in unison.
Every Badger has shown the ability to shoot low scores, flashing the potential for greatness. Should the day come when the lineup fires a low score or two in unison, they may just find themselves finishing in first instead of seventh. It’s those five, six and seven-over rounds when they end up scoring for the team that kill the chance to place higher.
The Badgers have a short week as they return right back to play at the Schooner Fall Classic, hosted by Oklahoma from Sept. 20 to Sept. 22. This will be a nice chance for the Badgers to get right back out there, off a hard-fought week and respond with a strong showing.