The Aloha State was not as inviting as its nickname would suggest toward the Idaho women’s golf team in its final showing of the spring regular season.
After the second round at the Anuenue Spring Break Classic in Kapalua, Hawaii, the Vandals sat alone in last place, two strokes behind 12th place East Tennessee State. However, Idaho would be greeted warmly in the final round, leaping to a 10th place finish at The Bay Course from March 27 through 29.
Led by junior Michelle Kim through the first two rounds, then by junior Sophie Hausmann — who finished 18th out of 68 golfers — and freshman Valeria Patino in the final, the Vandals chalked up a 52-over aggregate 916 in a field featuring eight of Golfstat’s top-100 teams.
Idaho’s routine star in Hausmann labored to get under-even in the first round. She carded six consecutive pars, but with five bogeys and no birdies, she finished the opener with a 5-over par 77.
It was Kim who offset potentially the worst Idaho finish in years. She fired two birdies, and largely stymied off the bogies, only carding four to end with a 3-over 75.
She and Hausmann reproduced their results in the second. A double-bogey on the 154-yard par-3 fifth was preceded by a bogey for Kim, yet on the back nine, she knocked in a birdie and only one bogey.
After the second, Hausmann sat in 43rd and Kim was tied for 23rd. The positions flipped a day later.
Hausmann crafted four birdies through the first seven holes, including one on the No. 1 handicap, the 472-yard par-5 first.
On the back, she fenced two birdies around seven-straight pars from the 12th to the final hole, cutting seven strokes off of her last two scores and tying for the second-best round on the day with a 2-under 70.
“Sophie fought her way up the leaderboard today with strong golf course management and solid putting inside of 10 feet,” Idaho Head Coach Lisa Johnson said in a news release.
Patino shot a 1-over 73 on the final day, clipping five strokes off her first and second round totals. The Panamanian born, Katy, Texas product bounced back after two 6-over days. Without the improvement, Idaho would have fallen behind UC Riverside by three strokes and into a tie for 12th with CSU Fullerton.
As the No. 4 seed, Kim finished four spots ahead of Patino at a tie for 38th. After the first she was tied for 17th, but a rocky 6-over 78 depreciated her once-high quality score.
The No. 29 team in the nation, Louisville, took home team medalist honors with two top-10 shooters.
Host-team Hawaii produced the tournament’s champion, Kaci Masuda, who shot 3-under, 1-over and 2-under in the respective rounds.
Idaho returns home for three weeks of practice before traveling for the Big Sky Tournament April 20th to Boulder, Nev..
Colton Clark can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @coltonclark95