Cardinal shoots 21 over par, wins eighth place at Bruin-Wave Invite
After a few ups and downs, the Stanford women’s golf team finished in eighth place at the Bruin-Wave Invitational on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with an 885 (21-over-par) after playing 54 holes. The well-organized tournament was hosted by UCLA and Pepperdine, and was held at Robinson Ranch Golf Club in Santa Clarita, Calif.
The tournament boasted a deep field that posed a significant challenge to the No. 14 Cardinal. Five of the nation’s top 10 teams competed—No. 2 UCLA, No. 7 Pepperdine, No. 9 USC and No. 10 Arizona.
In the first round, Stanford shot a 292 (four-over) to tie Washington for fifth place. It sat 10 strokes behind Arizona, which led with a 282. UCLA (286) and USC (286) were tied for second, with Pepperdine (288) close behind in fourth.
Junior co-captain Rebecca Durham led the Cardinal on the first day. She holed out from the fairway for an eagle, and had three chip-ins for birdies to shoot 70 (two-under) for the round.
Sophomore Sydney Burlison competed as an individual, and also scored three birdies in the first round, but fell to 73 (one-over) after hitting a few bogeys and a double bogey. Senior Angela King and freshmen Sally Watson also tied Burlison’s score of 73, putting them in 19th place.
Stanford finished in sixth after the second round with a 295 (587 total). UCLA was in first place by 11 strokes, and was at even par with a total of 576.
Durham once again had a good round on day two, shooting a one-under-par with a few birdies. However, she struggled on her last three holes. Watson also had a fair round, and was at five-under-par at one point.
In the last round on Wednesday, Stanford had its weakest results, posting a 298. The team finished the 54-hole tournament in eighth place with a score of 885, which is 21 above par. USC won the event with an 866, 19 strokes ahead of Stanford.
Individually, Durham slipped to 13th place after shooting a 77 on the third round. She ended up 10 strokes behind Daniella Kang of Pepperdine, who finished with an eight-under 208 to win the tournament.
Freshmen Watson and Kristina Wong finished the tournament tied for 18th with a four-over 220. King finished 29th, Burlison finished 57th and sophomore Lila Barton finished 89th.
“We were disappointed with our finish,” Durham said. “That being said, we did a lot of good things. This is the first tournament where we’ve had a lot of birdies and the potential of going really low. We were in contention with the top teams in the country, and we now know that if we play to our potential, we can win. We’re a young team and have to take this tournament as a learning experience. Next time, we’ll finish strong.”
The Cardinal women will be back in full swing March 26-28 at the Besty Rawls Longhorn Invitational in Austin, Texas.