Svejgård Nielsen Finishes in Top 20 in UK Women’s Golf’s Fall Finale
WEST POINT, Miss. – The Kentucky women’s golf team concluded its four-tournament fall season by finishing in ninth place on Wednesday at The Ally.
While UK started solid and was in contention through the first two days, the Wildcats’ highest 18-hole score of the season, a 10-over-par 298, dropped them back three spots in the final round at Old Waverly Golf Club (par 72, 6,280 yards) in West Point, Mississippi.
The Wildcats finished at 14-over par in a 12-team field that featured five teams ranked in the top 20 of the first Golfstat rankings of the season. No UK player posted a round of par or better on Wednesday for the first time since the second round of the season-opening Wolverine Invitational in September, but fifth-year senior Rikke Svejgard Nielsen enjoyed her best tournament of the fall with a 2-over-par week to tie for 20th. Sophomore Laney Frye was just a stroke behind at 3-over par, and junior Jensen Castle finished at 4-over par.
“I think we did a lot of good stuff. I know I keep saying that, but we really are doing a lot of great things,” UK head coach Golda Borst said. “We’re just having a rough time putting rounds together. I think overall we’ve played some really good golf. It’s just tough to finish on this note.”
No. 14 Alabama turned in a score of 22-under par to win The Ally by 10 shots over No. 7 Florida. Benedetta Moresco of the Crimson Tide claimed individual medalist honors at 19-under par and led the field with 24 birdies.
Although the season did not wrap up as the team had hoped, Svejgård Nielsen was a bright spot throughout the week. The Esbjerg, Denmark, native notched her first top-20 showing of the season and her team-leading 11th of her collegiate career with a 54-hole total of 218, her best of the fall slate. She rolled in three birdies in the final round to try to counter six bogeys and ended up with a 75 to conclude the tournament.
Just behind Svejgård Nielsen was Frye, who tied for 23rd overall with a 219. The sophomore just missed out on a top-20 finish by a stroke after a 76 in the third round. She finished the fall with a 72.9 stroke average, the second-best mark on the team.
The top fall honors go to Castle, who, even after a fair week in Mississippi, is still slightly ahead of her 2019-20 record pace with a 71.75 stroke average. She set the school’s single-season mark of 71.88 as a freshman.
Castle finished this week with a score of 220, 4-over par, to tie for 27th. She bounced back from Tuesday’s 76 with a 73 on Wednesday.
Junior Marissa Wenzler tied for 51st with a 10-over-par 226. Over the three days, the Dayton, Ohio, native shot 67, 73 and 77, respectively. The junior heads into the break with an 18-hole average of 74.6.
Junior María Villanueva Aperribay was unable to rebound from a tough second round and finished with a total of 229, 13-over par. While posting a pair of 74s Monday and Wednesday, her score of 81 on Tuesday took her out of contention and she tied for 59th. Even with the 81, Villanueva Aperribay averaged 73.4 strokes in the fall, the third-best mark on the team.
Freshman Marta López Echevarría played as an individual in The Ally and is still working on finding her footing while adjusting to the sport at the collegiate level. In her second appearance, she posted three straight days of 80s for a total of 240, 24-over par. She finished in 68th.
While the team fell a bit short of expectations this week, it did nothing to diminish a relatively strong fall coming off the program’s first NCAA Championship Finals appearance in the spring since 1992.
“We fell a little bit short (in some areas), but I think we accomplished some other things that we had been working on,” said Borst. “There are always positives to take and there are areas that we can grow in. We’ll continue to work on those. We’re a strong team and sometimes you’ve got to work through some adversity to get better.”
Kentucky concluded the fall season with a 54-hole average of 290.75, which would be second-best in school history over a full season. While there is still plenty of golf to be played in the 2020-21 season, UK will take nearly a three-month break for the winter before returning to the links against rival Louisville on Jan. 17.
With that upcoming break, the Wildcats will be using that time to rejuvenate and refuel ahead of a five-event regular-season spring slate.
“Some of them are going to get some good rest,” Borst said. “Some of them have been going really hard so rest is going to be key. And then it’s getting to work. We recently installed a PuttView, so we’re very excited about getting to work on some of those sloping putts and learning more about our strokes. We’re just going to get to work and continue to work on the things we talk about all year.”
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