Women’s College Golf
UCLA captured the team title at the UCF Challenge, which was held at Red Tail Golf Club in Sorrento, Fla., March 8-10. The Bruins carded a 14-under-par total to defeat Arizona State by seven shots and Oklahoma State by 11. UCLA’s Stephanie Kono used a final-round 66 to post an 8-under-par 208 total and win by one shot over Florida’s Jessica Yadloczky. Jennie Lee of Duke finished third at 6-under-par, while Candace Schepperle of Auburn and Glory Yang of UCLA finished tied for fourth at 5-under-par.
Meghan Gockel earned co-medalist honors and led Kansas to a 24-shot victory at the Duramed Collegiate at Rio Verde, held at Quail Run at Rio Verde Country Club in Rio Verde, Ariz. University of Arkansas at Little Rock finished second and was led by Sara Wikstrom, who also carded a 5-over-par 218 and shared medalist honors with Gockel. Boram Lee of Toledo and Kelsey Verbeten of Wisconsin finished tied for third at 7-over-par. Four players tied for fifth at 10-over-par: Bari Erais of Bradley, Carly Werwie of Wisconsin, Stacey Miller of Illinois State and Stephany Fleet of Eastern Michigan.
Men’s College Golf
Three AJGA alumni captured individual tournament titles last week – Ramie Sprinkling (UC-Davis), Matt Stauch(Florida Southern) and Ryan Haselden (Vanderbilt).
Sprinkling led UC-Davis to a tie for third and posted a 4-under-par 212 total to capture his second win of the season at the Fresno State Lexus Golf Classic, held at Belmont Country Club in Fresno, Calif. Colin Featherstone of San Diego State, Nick Taylor of Washington, and Todd Angel of Fresno State finished tied for second at 2-under-par.
At the Ron Smith/USF Invitational (Lake Jovita Golf Club, Dade City, Fla.), Stauch earned co-medalist honors with Santiago Rivas of Texas Tech. His 9-under-par 207 total led Florida Southern to a 6-under-par team total and a tie for first with Texas Tech. Mike Van Sickle of Marquette finished third at 6-under-par, while Erik Barnes of Austin Peay, Nils Floren of Texas Tech, and Rick Cochran of Middle Tennessee State finished tied for fourth at 4-under-par.
Vanderbilt notched its first win of the season behind Haselden’s 3-under-par 213 performance. Haselden eagled the final hole, which not only secured medalist honors by one shot, but also propelled the Commodores to a one-shot victory over Virginia. Carlos Sainz, Jr. of Mississippi State finished second at 2-under-par, while Jason Cuthbertson of Arkansas, Jon Curran of Vanderbilt, and Will Collins of Virginia finished tied for third at 1-under-par.
Professional Round-up
At the PGA TOUR’s Honda Classic, Y.E. Yang’s 9-under-par performance gave him his first TOUR victory by one shot over John Rollins. Ben Crane finished third at 6-under-par, and Jeff Klauk finished fourth at 5-under-par. Four players tied for fifth at 4-under-par: Fredrik Jacobson, Will MacKenzie, Robert Allenby and Scott Piercy.
LPGA rookie Jiyai Shin won the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore, Sunday. Shin carded back-to-back rounds of 66 over the weekend, which catapulted her to an 11-under-par 277 total and a two-shot victory. Katherine Hull finished second at 9-under-par, while Angela Park, Paula Creamer and Angela Stanford finished tied for third at 8-under-par.