Post by philknj on Sept 22, 2023 3:16:10 GMT
I arrived at Springdale GC just before 9 AM with a printout of the Round Three threesomes ... seventy-two players representing twelve teams were going out at 9:00 AM (or a little after that) in a shotgun start. What’s good about going to a Round Three day is that they have the best scoring teams from Saturday grouped together and starting at the early holes, so you don’t have to waste time watching the hackers.
The team scoring is based upon the best four scores from the five players on your team for each of the three rounds. Princeton has six players on its roster, so which one do you exclude? They have three seniors, so you can’t deny them a chance to play their last “home” tournament. Victoria Liu (junior) is their best player, so you can’t exclude her. That leaves two players for the last spot, soph Catherine Rao and newcomer Caiyi (Flora) Zhang. Although Rao was the Ivy League ROY last season and has reached the quarters of the last two USWA tournaments, she took one for the team and sat out.
Twelve players played as individuals (grouped in four threesomes). It would have been nice to see Rao as one of them, but I’m guessing she was omitted as a courtesy to the visiting teams. Rao followed the Princeton players in a cart and had someone else with her ... it may have been Sophie Zhang-Murphy, who quit Princeton’s team and played the LPGA Q-school (Stage One) last month.
Senior Julia Kashimura’s last home tourney for Princeton did not go well at all ... her swing did not the have the speed or precision of the better players. At least she maintained minimum street cred by propping a vintage Tourstage umbrella over her push cart and was gaming a Fourteen FH V1 wedge set.
Last year I saw the Tigers’ Victoria Liu (aka Lefty Sung Hung) hit driver off the deck at the par-5 12th hole. This year she drove it into the left bunker, so she had to settle for hitting a FW out of there (probably 3W). She had an ancient TaylorMade M2 Geocoustic driver last year and I think the rest of gear was TM as well. This year, she switched to Titleist woods and Titleist T-150 irons.
After she hit, a volunteer in a cart with bag lunches drove up and asked what she ordered (“Ham”) and gave it to her. The volunteers wore TCNJ tee shirts (The College of New Jersey).
Wish I had arrived at the course sooner to get more time inspecting bags ... nevertheless, my biggest thumbs up goes to Princeton senior Yu Kyung Kim and her dinged-up Titleist AP2 716 irons.
Christy Chen of Boston U. had the lowest score going into Sunday so I joined her group for a while ... seemed to drive the ball higher than most players I saw here. She was playing with Katherine Sung of Dartmouth who had a most unusual start to her pre-shot routine. Holding the grip with her right hand only, she’d address the ball and start doing a tap dance with mostly her right foot, as if she had ants in her socks. She was usually the longest hitter in her group (third player was Isabella Gomez of Harvard).
The Internet connection on my phone was on the fritz, so I didn’t know that Dartmouth was doing a mad dash up the leaderboard, with four of their players shooting 71 or better ... finished in second place, only four shots back of winner Georgetown. Final scores:
results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=28197
Boston U. was gathered in a group as the head coach heaped praise on Christy Chen ... “four days of golf this season and four days as low medalist.” Aside from shooting 211 (-2), she also shot 215 (+5) the week before at Bucknell. That’s a scoring average 71.00 ... it’s still early in the season, but a big improvement over her first two seasons (76.06 & 75.05). BTW, I thought BU had the sharpest outfits and style options in the field.
Then BU’s coach announced that someone close to the team tested positive for The Bug. As an extra precaution, he would stay in the Princeton area overnight, while the rest of the team would depart for Boston immediately ... because he had surgery six months ago, he was advised by his doctor to avoid “situations” like this. It’s understandable as this guy looked really old. I looked him up later ... Bruce Chalas (Babson College, ’72) ... qualified for the 1980 USO at Baltusrol (77-84, MC).
The team scoring is based upon the best four scores from the five players on your team for each of the three rounds. Princeton has six players on its roster, so which one do you exclude? They have three seniors, so you can’t deny them a chance to play their last “home” tournament. Victoria Liu (junior) is their best player, so you can’t exclude her. That leaves two players for the last spot, soph Catherine Rao and newcomer Caiyi (Flora) Zhang. Although Rao was the Ivy League ROY last season and has reached the quarters of the last two USWA tournaments, she took one for the team and sat out.
I watched Flora Zhang a little bit ... hit the ball well, but did not strike me as exceptional in any way. What struck me was her background when I looked it up later ... from Beijing, she graduated from the IMG Academy (Florida) and has 13 career top-10s on the AJGA ... why are you at Princeton?! Coach DeSanty is doing a helluva recruiting job.
Another player who caught my attention was Madeleine (Two Gloves) Zang of Penn. This was her first college tournament after being the local hotshot at Princeton HS and Springdale is also her home course (and hit some range balls after her round). She had Mizuno irons and I think she also had Mizuno S23 wedges ... played a yellow ball, but couldn’t see which brand. Two Gloves has a kid sister Jacqueline playing golf at Princeton HS.
Last year I saw the Tigers’ Victoria Liu (aka Lefty Sung Hung) hit driver off the deck at the par-5 12th hole. This year she drove it into the left bunker, so she had to settle for hitting a FW out of there (probably 3W). She had an ancient TaylorMade M2 Geocoustic driver last year and I think the rest of gear was TM as well. This year, she switched to Titleist woods and Titleist T-150 irons.
After she hit, a volunteer in a cart with bag lunches drove up and asked what she ordered (“Ham”) and gave it to her. The volunteers wore TCNJ tee shirts (The College of New Jersey).
Wish I had arrived at the course sooner to get more time inspecting bags ... nevertheless, my biggest thumbs up goes to Princeton senior Yu Kyung Kim and her dinged-up Titleist AP2 716 irons.
Christy Chen of Boston U. had the lowest score going into Sunday so I joined her group for a while ... seemed to drive the ball higher than most players I saw here. She was playing with Katherine Sung of Dartmouth who had a most unusual start to her pre-shot routine. Holding the grip with her right hand only, she’d address the ball and start doing a tap dance with mostly her right foot, as if she had ants in her socks. She was usually the longest hitter in her group (third player was Isabella Gomez of Harvard).
The Internet connection on my phone was on the fritz, so I didn’t know that Dartmouth was doing a mad dash up the leaderboard, with four of their players shooting 71 or better ... finished in second place, only four shots back of winner Georgetown. Final scores:
results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=28197
Boston U. was gathered in a group as the head coach heaped praise on Christy Chen ... “four days of golf this season and four days as low medalist.” Aside from shooting 211 (-2), she also shot 215 (+5) the week before at Bucknell. That’s a scoring average 71.00 ... it’s still early in the season, but a big improvement over her first two seasons (76.06 & 75.05). BTW, I thought BU had the sharpest outfits and style options in the field.
Then BU’s coach announced that someone close to the team tested positive for The Bug. As an extra precaution, he would stay in the Princeton area overnight, while the rest of the team would depart for Boston immediately ... because he had surgery six months ago, he was advised by his doctor to avoid “situations” like this. It’s understandable as this guy looked really old. I looked him up later ... Bruce Chalas (Babson College, ’72) ... qualified for the 1980 USO at Baltusrol (77-84, MC).
Chen finished in a three-way tie for low medalist with Victoria Liu and Katherine Sung ... pic below:
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