Bettel Posts Second Straight Top-10 Finish at the Bryan
BROWNS SUMMIT, N.C. – Playing the best golf of her career while competing at a course where she had experienced past success was a winning recipe for junior Leonie Bettel this weekend at the Bryan National Collegiate.
Bettel posted her second straight top-10 finish in tournament play as well as her second straight top-10 showing at the Bryan with a total score of 7-over par this weekend in Browns Summit, North Carolina.
A constant and chilly rain made for a tough day for everyone on the golf course, including Bettel, who managed a 77 in the final round, but the junior from Austria stayed near the top of the leaderboard to finish in the top 10 in back-to-back tournaments for the first time in her career.
As a team, Kentucky placed 14th at 61-over par at arguably the toughest course the Wildcats will play all season and in one of the most competitive fields in golf.
No. 21 Wake Forest, host of the tournament, propelled by individual champion Jennifer Kupcho – the only player in the 95-player field in red numbers – won the crown at 24-over par. No. 7 Furman (28-over par) and No. 22 Auburn (30-over par) rounded out the top three.
The tournament completed UK’s regular-season slate. The Wildcats will enter postseason play April 18 at the Southeastern Conference Championship in Birmingham, Alabama.
“This was a tough end to the regular season for us,” UK head coach Golda Borst said. “We have a team that cares deeply for Kentucky, and with three seniors in the lineup, this one will take a while to get over. The conditions were tough today with continuous rain and wind, but we could have played better. Now we need to regroup and get ready for the conference championship in a week.”
Kentucky was coming off its best stretch of the season, having finished in a season-best third place at the Clover Cup before upsetting No. 16 Kent State with a thrilling 3-2 match-play victory last week.
The Wildcats got off to a rough start in Friday’s opening round and bounced back in the second round with a 296, but difficult conditions halted UK’s comeback attempt. It rained from start to finish Saturday with temperatures never leaving the 40s.
The entire field was affected. With two teams ranked in the top 10, six in the top 25 and 11 of the 17 total teams in the top 50, only one – champion Wake Forest – shot less than a 300 in the finale.
Bettel tied for sixth at last year’s Bryan, which is tied for her best career finish with last month’s Clover Cup showing. She was threatening to match or even best it after a birdie on her 14th hole of the day to get back to 3-over par for the round, but a double bogey two holes later thwarted those plans.
She now leads UK outright with four top-20 finishes on the season and is tied with senior Isabelle Johansson with two top-10 showings.
Johansson had hopes of going low after a strong close to Friday’s second round – she played the final 12 holes of Friday at 5-under par – but it wasn’t meant to be for the Swede. She finished at 16-over par and in a tie for 47th after a final-round 80.
Sophomore Sarah Shipley tied for 58th at 20-over par with an 81 on Saturday. Redshirt senior Ale Walker moved up nine spots in the final round with a 78 and tied for 60th at 20-over par. Senior Grace Rose tied for 73rd at 24-over par.
Playing at 6,386 yards this week, a par 72, the Champions Course lived up to its reputation as one of the toughest tracks in the country. After yielding just two team under-par scores a year ago, no one got close to red numbers.
UK will get back to work at the University Club of Kentucky before heading to Birmingham the week of April 16. In a new format this season, the SEC Championship will feature three rounds of stroke play before the field will be trimmed to eight teams for match play.
Kentucky will hope to use the league tournament as a springboard towards its seventh NCAA regional appearance in eight seasons under Borst.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s golf team, follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
