The ladies of Badger golf returned from Arizona Sunday with an eighth place finish under their belts. They competed in the Rio Verde Collegiate Invitational where they tied for sixth last year.
Wisconsin's eighth-place finish put the team in the top half of the pack. The ladies shot a combined score of 917, 53 over par. Sophomore Kelsey Verbeten captured the top score for the Badgers with a 226, 10 over par. She tied for 14th. Junior Jeana Dahl ranked second among the Badgers with a score of 228, 12 over par. She tied for 21st.
Dahl was followed by senior Katie Elliott, last week's Big Ten Golfer of the Week, who tied for 33rd with a score of 232, 16 over par. While finishing 33rd at an invitational of 107 competitors is certainly impressive, it was a bit of a let down for Elliott, who tied for third last year.
This year, though, Elliott got the better of Arkansas-Little Rock junior Anita Ojeda. Elliott and Ojeda tied for third at last year's invitational. Ojeda scored 237, 21 over par, and tied for 58th. Unlike Ojeda, Arkansas-Little Rock junior Sara Wikstrom finished among the top golfers in Rio Verde for the second year in a row. She completed the course with a score of 219, three over par, earning her a third-place tie.
It was the newcomers who replaced Elliot atop the leaderboard this time around. The University of Notre Dame's young talent won the invitational with a score of 875, 11 over par. Such an impressive finish was easy behind the dominating performance of three top-10 finishers. The one-two finish of freshman So-Hyun Park and sophomore Annie Brophy topped the leaderboard.
Park scored a 212, four under par. This was the second win of her already impressive freshman season, the first coming at the Napa River Grill Cardinal Classic in Kent back in September. Brophy finished second, matching par with a score of 216. Sophomore Kristen Wetzel completed the triumphant Irish trio, placing sixth with a score of 221, five over par.
With invitational newcomers Notre Dame pushing the Badgers farther back in the results, it might be easy to say that Wisconsin faltered in Arizona this past weekend. However, the consistent and strong performances of Elliott, Verbeten, Dahl and freshman Carly Werwie are proof that the Badgers continue to perform quite well. Unfortunately, the Irish performed just a little bit better.
Wisconsin hits the green again with another three-day outing over Spring Break. This time the team will travel to Austin, Texas, for the Betsy Rawls Invitational from March 17 to the 19.
