The University of Wisconsin women’s golf team hosted the Westbrook Invitational, finishing in a tie for fourth out of 14 schools. The Badgers have hosted the invitational every year since 2012, besides a COVID year in 2021. This year, it took place from Sunday, Feb. 23 to Monday, Feb. 24.
Last spring, Wisconsin’s Chloe Chan won the event as an individual, meaning the golfer tees off and competes on the player’s leaderboard, but their score cannot count towards the team.
The Westbrook Invitational boasted an incredibly strong field, consisting of reigning champions, No. 25 Kansas, No. 30 Kansas St, No. 35 UNLV and No. 50 Minnesota. Wisconsin shot 10-under as a team, beating out Minnesota by 12 strokes. The winners, Kansas, who have now gone back to back at this event, shot a combined 39 under par.
Kansas’ Lauren Clark, ranked No. 135 nationally, shot five under, seven under and five under again to take the outright victory at 17 under, five strokes ahead of the second place finisher Sophie Bert of Kansas St.
The 39th ranked women’s golfer in the country, Isabella McCauley, competed in the event, shooting a total of two over par for a share of 38th place. Wisconsin had four different golfers shoot better scores than her this week, a very promising sign for this Badgers squad.
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Sunday was a day of 36 holes, representing the first two rounds of a three-round tournament. Wisconsin’s Vanessa Ho tore apart the course in the early round, shooting a five-under 67 in her first round. The defending champion, Chloe Chan also poured in a two-under 70 in her first round.
The three other golfers in the lineup included Carly Carter, who shot a one-over 73 in round one, Ava Salay, playing in her first event of the spring season, also went one-over and Alexia Siehl, who went two-over for a round one 74. The team’s efforts were good enough to keep Wisconsin in the top three after round one.
But, round two posed some difficulty for the Badgers, as Salay and Siehl both finished round two five-over posting scores of 77. Chan shot two-over for a round two score of 74. The last two Badgers, Carter and Ho, both finished their second rounds one-under, posting 71s.
Kate Brody, a sophomore, who played this event as an individual – this being her first tournament of the spring season – posted an even par round of 72 in her second round.
As Sunday, and the first two rounds, came to a close, the Badgers found themselves in 6th, shooting even par through those two rounds. As for the players, Vanessa Ho played the first two rounds six-under, good enough to be in 5th place heading into the final round.
The 36 hole leader was Kansas’ Clark, who shot five-under and seven-under to hold a three shot lead on the individual leaderboard. The low round of Sunday came from Kansas State’s Sophie Bert, who posted an incredible nine-under 63 in her second round – putting her in second place.
Carter and Chan both found themselves at even par through the first two rounds, which had them tied for 27th and looking for a top-25 finish. Brody, as an individual, found herself three-over through the first two rounds, placing her in 42nd with a chance to make a move in her final round.
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Monday came and Wisconsin lit up the course. As a team, Wisconsin shot 10-under, climbing two spots to claim the tie for fourth finish. Chan shot a mesmerizing seven-under par round of 65 on Monday, climbing all the way to finish 10th. Carter shot a three-under round of 69 to finish 21st.
Ho shot a two-under round of 70, good enough to stay in the top 10 with a 6th place finish. But, Siehl and Salay shot two and five over respectively to both finish outside the top 55 out of 78.
Wisconsin did have three total golfers play as individuals in this tournament. Brody finished the tournament six-over in a tie for 51st. Freshman Izzi Stricker shot five-over during her two rounds on Sunday, but responded with a four-under round on Monday to finish the event one-over, tied for 36th The other individual was senior Camille Kuznik who shot 10-over through her three rounds, placing her in a tie for 63rd.
Ho and Chan finished the first tournament of the spring season within the top 15, now they both finished within the top 10. Carter went from a T31 finish last tournament to a T21 finish. Stricker went from a T56 finish to finishing T36.
As a team, the Badgers went from shooting 28-over and finishing eighth out of twelve schools to shooting 10-under and finishing fourth out of fourteen schools. The improvement was noticeable and impressive between the first and second tournaments of the spring season. The Badgers now look ahead to the Mountain View Collegiate in Tucson, Arizona for their next tournament from March 2-4.