Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
No. 5 Duke
Northwestern Takes Fourth at Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic
3/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
 |
||
 |
No. 5 Duke 4, No. 9 Northwestern 1 Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic • Third-Place Match UGA Golf Course • Athens, Ga. BirdieFire.com Scoring • Match Play Final Bracket  | |
ATHENS, Ga. -- No. 9 Northwestern finished the 2015 Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic in fourth among the 12-team field following a 4-1 loss to No. 5 Duke in the third-place match Sunday at UGA Golf Course.
Last year, the Liz Murphey changed formats to mirror the NCAA Championships, which adopts a stroke-play portion before team match play determines the national title. That format will debut this season at the NCAA national tournament.
Northwestern finished Friday's medal play qualifying round in sixth place to advance to the championship bracket, where NU dispatched of No. 7 Arkansas in its Saturday morning quarterfinal showdown. The Wildcats then fell to the host Bulldogs, 2.5-2.5, on a tiebreaker in the semifinal round Saturday afternoon to end up in Sunday's third-place match.
Top-ranked USC defeated host Georgia, 3-2, Sunday in the championship match. The tournament included six of the current Golfstat.com top-10 teams in the country. No. 9 Northwestern and No. 5 Duke met in the third-place match, Baylor defeated No. 3 South Carolina in the fifth-place match and No. 7 Arkansas topped No. 4 UCLA in the seventh-place match.
The Wildcats are quickly back in action April 3-5 at the Bryan National Collegiate co-hosted by Wake Forest and UNC Greensboro.
Below is a match-by-match account of Northwestern's third-place tilt with No. 5 Duke:
MATCH 1: Hannah Kim (NU) def. Lisa Maguire (DUKE), 1-up
Neither Northwestern freshman Hannah Kim (Chula Vista, Calif./Otay Ranch) nor Duke's Lisa Maguire held any more than a 1-up lead at any point in this very tight first match out. Maguire won three holes on the front side, but each time Kim at some point countered to get back to all square. On the back nine, Kim took her first lead of the entire when she won No. 13 with a par. She and Maguire halved each of the last three holes to finish out he match with Kim on top, 1-up.
MATCH 2: Gurbani Singh (DUKE) def. Suchaya Tangkamolprasert (NU), 3 and 2
Suchaya Tangkamolprasert (Bangkok, Thailand/Bromsgrove Christian School) took advantage of three early bogeys from Singh to go 2-up through four holes, but the Blue Devil recovered to immediately seize back momentum, riding it out until the end of the match. Birdies at Nos. 8 and 10 from Singh gave her the lead, which she eventually built to 4-up with five holes remaining. Tangkamolprasert made par at No. 14 to earn one hole back, but that was all the closer she would be able to get.
MATCH 3: Sandy Choi (DUKE) def. Kaitlin Park (NU), 6 and 5
Sandy Choi won the first hole and never trailed despite Northwestern's Kaitlin Park (Tustin, Calif./Beckman) playing largely well over the first half of the match. Choi made birdie at No. 5 to go 2-up before Park immediately countered with a birdie of her own to win No. 6.
Choi re-established the 2-up lead with another birdie at No. 8, then a run of bogeys for Park allowed her opponent to finish the match off, 6 and 5.
MATCH 4: Leona Maguire (DUKE) def. Kacie Komoto (NU), 3 and 2
Kacie Komoto (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou) and Leona Maguire played super close for the entire front side of this match. Komoto won the first hole, Maguire won the second and then the two proceeded to halve the next six holes in a row, including dueling birdies at the fourth.
Maguire won the ninth hole to go 1-up and then gradually pulled away, building to a 3 and 2 win.
MATCH 5: Celine Boutier (DUKE) def. Hana Lee (NU), 3-up through 15
Senior Hana Lee (Seoul, South Korea/Wilson (Calif.)) made three birdies and three double bogeys during her match with Celine Boutier, which normally would mean holes both won and lost. Unfortunately for Lee, two of her birdies came on holes in which Boutier also birdied, helping the Blue Devil remain on top in the match. With Lee trailing by three holes through 15 and the overall match outcome between Duke and NU already decided, this match ended prior to the playing of the 16th hole.
••••••
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook, subscribe to the NU Sports Express e-newsletter and sign up to receive promotional text alerts for the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!
