No. 9 Northwestern Advances to Liz Murphey Championship Bracket

3/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf

March 27, 2015

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	2015 Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic UGA Golf Course • Athens, Ga. • NU's Place: 6th/12 teams BirdieFire Scoring • Qualifying Round Results • Match Play Bracket

ATHENS, Ga. -- Northwestern advanced to the championship match play bracket of the 2015 Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic following Friday's qualifying stroke play round at the UGA Golf Course.

One year after Northwestern set the tournament single-round record with an 11-under 277, conditions for medal play in 2015 were decidedly more difficult. UCLA finished first on Friday with a 13-over 301, 24 strokes worse than the Wildcats were in 2014. The 12-team field that includes six of the nation's current top-10 according to Golfstat.com saw just two teams finish lower than 20-over par.

To highlight the difficulty of play for Northwestern specifically, one year after NU finished 11-under par the five-member team was able to put just 10 combined birdies on its cards (and just two of those came on the back nine.) Still, NU battled to place sixth overall and among the top-8 by three shots, earning a berth into the Championship bracket starting Saturday.

The top-8 teams -- including Northwestern -- following Friday are in the championship "red" bracket while the remaining four will compete in the round-robin "black" bracket. Teams will play two matches Saturday and one on Sunday to determine a tournament champion, mirroring the new structure of the NCAA Championships. NU's opponent in the quarterfinal round Saturday morning is Arkansas, which is seeded third following a 21-over 309.

Freshman Hannah Kim (Chula Vista, Calif./Otay Ranch) was just one bad hole away from yet another top-10 finish on the season. Though she started with three bogeys in her first four holes, she battled all the way back to even-par with a birdie at the par-5 ninth hole. On the back nine, however, a triple-bogey 8 at the par-5 12th led to a 5-over 77 to place her 15th in the field.

Senior Hana Lee (Seoul, South Korea/Wilson (Calif.)) carded a pair of front nine birdies and made the turn in 2-over par before five bogeys on the back nine left her in 24th position at 7-over 79.

Kaitlin Park (Tustin, Calif./Beckman) also shot a 7-over 79 Friday for Northwestern, doing so with a trio of birdies on her card including the lone two made by any Wildcats' competitor on the back nine. Park, unfortunately, sandwiched those back-side birdies around a triple-bogey 7 at the par-4 14th hole to help contribute to her total.

Kacie Komoto (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou), like Park and Lee, made the turn with a 2-over 38 before ending up at 8-over 80 for the day, good for 30th position overall.

Suchaya Tangkamolprasert (Bangkok, Thailand/Bromsgrove Christian School) made bogey on her first hole Friday before seemingly settling the ship over the next four holes, but a double bogey on No. 6 began a rough stretch that saw her turn at 6-over 42. On the back, Tangkamolprasert was still hanging in at 7-over par before a second double bogey, this one at No. 17, led to a 9-over 81.

Northwestern - 6th/12 • 315 (+27)
T15 -- Hannah Kim -- 77 (+5)
T24 -- Hana Lee -- 79 (+7)
T24 -- Kaitlin Park -- 79 (+7)
T30 -- Kacie Komoto -- 80 (+8)
T36 -- Suchaya Tangkamolprasert -- 81 (+9)

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