Northwestern University Athletics
Wildcats Extend Lead On Day 2 Of NCAA Championships
5/21/2017 4:13:00 PM | Women's Golf
SUGAR GROVE, Ill. – For the second consecutive day, Northwestern carded the field's best score at the 2017 NCAA Women's Golf Championships at Rich Harvest Farms. Senior Kacie Komoto fired a team-best, even-par 72 to vault up the leaderboard on Sunday, pacing the 'Cats to a 298 and an eight-shot lead over their closest competition after two rounds.
LIVE LEADERBOARD – 2017 NCAA Women's Golf Championship
PURCHASE TICKETS
The rain that pelted Friday's opening round and completely wiped out Saturday's action moved through the region, but cold temperatures and strong winds remained for Sunday's second round of play.
"The wind was up, and it was sort of swirling today," said head coach Emily Fletcher. "It wasn't blowing consistently in any one direction, which made it really hard for the girls to make some choices and some judgments out there. It's one of the things that differentiate our players. We play in tough conditions a lot, and our kids have really embraced it. They understand when we're out there on these types of days, there's value in it. Is it fun? No. But we know we're going to face these kinds of conditions, and it's going to be hard. They know it will pay off later."
Komoto, in her fourth NCAA Championships appearance, was steady all day long. She opened with six straight pars, bogeyed No. 16, but then bounced back with a birdie on No. 18. The Honolulu native then rattled off nine straight pars on the front-nine to finish the day at even par, in a tie for tenth with teammate Janet Mao.
"That's a GREAT round of golf," Fletcher said of her veteran after the round. "She has played so well these last few weeks, since the Big Ten Championships really. She's really come through for us as a senior who had been struggling a little bit earlier in the spring. She's shown so much heart and resilience."
Sophomore Stephanue Lau started hot on a blustery Sunday, with three consecutive birdies on No. 11, No. 12 and No. 13 (after teeing off the day at No. 10) that excited the Northwestern supporters in attendance. She finished the day at 2-over and is the top Wildcat on the leaderboard in a tie for eighth after 36 holes.
Head coach Emily Fletcher's Wildcats have exhibited remarkable balance through the first two days of competition, with all five student-athletes (in the 5-count-4 scoring format) in the Top-23 after 36 holes. No other team in the field has more than two golfers in the Top-23 following two rounds.
After shooting the best score of the day on Friday (301), Northwestern's 298 also was the best score of any team on the course Sunday. The Wildcats sit atop the leaderboard with an eight stroke edge on second-place Kent State, and a 21-shot cushion over the current cut line to advance to match play.
"We played a good round of golf," Fletcher said. "You can't be discouraged, this is a big golf course, there are a lot of holes that you just can't ever let up. We made some mistakes out there, we had a few things that got away from us, things that we can control that we need to do better tomorrow. But we need to take the good with the bad, and we had so much good out there today."
Northwestern will tee off the third round at 12:40 p.m. CT, paired with second-place Kent State and third-place Stanford. All 24 teams in the field advance to Monday's final round of stroke play (rather than the expected cut to 15 because of Saturday's cancelation), after which the Top-8 will advance to the match play portion of the Championships.
Golf Channel coverage will begin on Monday with coverage starting at 3 p.m. CT, followed by live coverage at 4 p.m., and continuing through match play action Tuesday and Wednesday.
Northwestern – 1/24 • 301-198-R3 = 599 (+23)
T8 – Stephanie LAU – 75-74-R3 =75 (+5)
T10 – Kacie KOMOTO – 78-72-R3 =78 (+6)
T10 – Janet MAO – 73-77-R3 =73 (+6)
T23 – Hannah KIM – 75-78-R3 =75 (+9)
T23 – Sarah CHO – 78-75-R3 =153 (+9)
Last season Northwestern earned a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Championships, hosted at Eugene (OR) Country Club, the best result in program history. The Wildcats missed a Top-8 invitation to match play by just a single stroke. Fletcher and Miller return all five golfers from that lineup this year in Sugar Grove, one that was the youngest of any team at last season's event.
In each of the program's last four appearances in the NCAA Championships, it has posted the best finish in Northwestern history. The 'Cats earned 15th-place results in 2013 and 2014, a 10th-place finish in 2015 and then a ninth-place standing last spring.
LIVE LEADERBOARD – 2017 NCAA Women's Golf Championship
PURCHASE TICKETS
The rain that pelted Friday's opening round and completely wiped out Saturday's action moved through the region, but cold temperatures and strong winds remained for Sunday's second round of play.
"The wind was up, and it was sort of swirling today," said head coach Emily Fletcher. "It wasn't blowing consistently in any one direction, which made it really hard for the girls to make some choices and some judgments out there. It's one of the things that differentiate our players. We play in tough conditions a lot, and our kids have really embraced it. They understand when we're out there on these types of days, there's value in it. Is it fun? No. But we know we're going to face these kinds of conditions, and it's going to be hard. They know it will pay off later."
Komoto, in her fourth NCAA Championships appearance, was steady all day long. She opened with six straight pars, bogeyed No. 16, but then bounced back with a birdie on No. 18. The Honolulu native then rattled off nine straight pars on the front-nine to finish the day at even par, in a tie for tenth with teammate Janet Mao.
"That's a GREAT round of golf," Fletcher said of her veteran after the round. "She has played so well these last few weeks, since the Big Ten Championships really. She's really come through for us as a senior who had been struggling a little bit earlier in the spring. She's shown so much heart and resilience."
Sophomore Stephanue Lau started hot on a blustery Sunday, with three consecutive birdies on No. 11, No. 12 and No. 13 (after teeing off the day at No. 10) that excited the Northwestern supporters in attendance. She finished the day at 2-over and is the top Wildcat on the leaderboard in a tie for eighth after 36 holes.
Back
— #B1GCats Golf (@NUGolf_Live) May 21, 2017
To back
To BACK!
Lau AGAIN, this time a 2ft tap-in on Par3 No. 13. #NCAAGolf
?? https://t.co/l8cNNCz9aL#B1GCats | #BurnTheShips pic.twitter.com/tsmjj6gNbO
Head coach Emily Fletcher's Wildcats have exhibited remarkable balance through the first two days of competition, with all five student-athletes (in the 5-count-4 scoring format) in the Top-23 after 36 holes. No other team in the field has more than two golfers in the Top-23 following two rounds.
After shooting the best score of the day on Friday (301), Northwestern's 298 also was the best score of any team on the course Sunday. The Wildcats sit atop the leaderboard with an eight stroke edge on second-place Kent State, and a 21-shot cushion over the current cut line to advance to match play.
Playing with the lead in the biggest event of the season sure seems to be making the #B1GCats tighten up. ??#NCAAGolf pic.twitter.com/sROseZiY1d
— #B1GCats Golf (@NUGolf_Live) May 21, 2017
"We played a good round of golf," Fletcher said. "You can't be discouraged, this is a big golf course, there are a lot of holes that you just can't ever let up. We made some mistakes out there, we had a few things that got away from us, things that we can control that we need to do better tomorrow. But we need to take the good with the bad, and we had so much good out there today."
Northwestern will tee off the third round at 12:40 p.m. CT, paired with second-place Kent State and third-place Stanford. All 24 teams in the field advance to Monday's final round of stroke play (rather than the expected cut to 15 because of Saturday's cancelation), after which the Top-8 will advance to the match play portion of the Championships.
Golf Channel coverage will begin on Monday with coverage starting at 3 p.m. CT, followed by live coverage at 4 p.m., and continuing through match play action Tuesday and Wednesday.
Northwestern – 1/24 • 301-198-R3 = 599 (+23)
T8 – Stephanie LAU – 75-74-R3 =75 (+5)
T10 – Kacie KOMOTO – 78-72-R3 =78 (+6)
T10 – Janet MAO – 73-77-R3 =73 (+6)
T23 – Hannah KIM – 75-78-R3 =75 (+9)
T23 – Sarah CHO – 78-75-R3 =153 (+9)
Last season Northwestern earned a ninth-place finish at the NCAA Championships, hosted at Eugene (OR) Country Club, the best result in program history. The Wildcats missed a Top-8 invitation to match play by just a single stroke. Fletcher and Miller return all five golfers from that lineup this year in Sugar Grove, one that was the youngest of any team at last season's event.
In each of the program's last four appearances in the NCAA Championships, it has posted the best finish in Northwestern history. The 'Cats earned 15th-place results in 2013 and 2014, a 10th-place finish in 2015 and then a ninth-place standing last spring.
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Players Mentioned
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