Women's Golf At Big Ten Championships - Final Results

[knightfan7]

3 Day, 54 Hole event at the Pete Dye designed Bulle Rock GC in Harve de Grace, MD. Short of winning and receiving the NCAA autobid, this will mark the end of the "23 - 24 season. Rutgers come in #85 out of 276 D1 teams and the 12th ranked team in the B1G. One obvious positive is after a rough Fall the team entered February ranked #113. Over the Spring portiion of the schedule they have improved their standing by 28 places. This marks the end of the RU careers of Grad Transfer Cathi Graf and holder of many RU records, Leigha Devine. I believe Rikke Nordvik, a 2 time individual champion during her career, still has a COVID year if she so chooses.

Rutgers hasn't fared well in the championship. The best finish since joining the conference was 11th in 2019. Other than that, the record shows 3 12th place finishes along with 4 14th and last. There was no championship in 2020. Last year's 14th place team only had 5 players which put them at a disadvantage in the 6 player, 4 best scores count format.

Last year Leigha Devine led RU with a strong 5th Place finish but no one else finished better than 65th. Devine will not be the only returning Top 5 finisher as she'll be joined by the runner up from Minnesota and the 4th Place finisher from Illinois but this is a different year and a different course. illinois won the 2023 championship by 3 strokes over Northwestern and 6 ahead of Ohio State. Top 10 Northwestern was favored last year and will be again this week.

Rutgers will go with Devine, Nordvik, Graf, Lucrezia Rossettin and 2 Frosh, Lorena Rossettin and Emily James. Pairings haven't been announced.

Big Ten National Rankings

#9 Northwestern
#30 Ohio State
#32 Michigan State
#33 Purdue
#37 Michigan
#41 Maryland
#58 Minnesota
#67 Illinois
#69 Wisconsin
#71 Nebraska
#74 Indiana
#85 RUTGERS
#93 Iowa
#100 Penn State

Next Year

#4 UCLA
#8 USC
#16 Oregon
#34 Washington

 

[Tango Two]

Women's Golf Ready for Big Ten Championships - Rutgers University Athletics

scarletknights.com

 

[knightfan7]

It was not a good opener for the Knights. After a First Round Team +17, Rutgers finds itself in 13th. They are 5 strokes behind 9th place Iowa and 4 strokes behind Nebraska, Illinois, and Minnesota in a 3-way tie. 14th Place PSU trails RU by 5 strokes. Michigan State will take an 8 stroke lead over Northwestern into tomorrow's 2nd Round.

Leigha Devine Led RU with 1 Birdie and 2 Bogeys for a 1 Over 73 good for a tie for 16th. She was 4th in Total Pars. The only other team member to be in the top half of the 84 player field was Frosh Lorena Rossettin, playing the Par 5's in red numbers, is T33 with a 3 Over 75. After that was Cathi Graf's 77 (T52), Lucrezia Rossettin's 80 (T71), Rikke Nordvik's 82 (T76), and Emily James' 83 (79th). Obviously, you're usually not going to do well when 3 of your players are in the bottom 14 of the field.

Northwestern's Lauryn Nguyen and Michigan State's Paula Balanzategui share the 1st Round lead after 5 Under 67's with Indiana's Caroline Craig 2 strokes behind.

Round 1 Top 5

1. #32 Michigan State............-9
2, #9 Northwestern...............-1
T3. #37 Michigan.....................E
T3. #74 Indiana........................E
5. #33 Purdue.........................+4

Rutgers who'll tee off at again tomorrow at #10, will have 4 players paired with 4 each from PSU and Nebraska and 2 paired with an equal number from Illinois and Minnesota starting at 9:11 AM.

 

[Tango Two]

Women's Golf in 13th After Day 1 of Big Ten Championships - Rutgers University Athletics

scarletknights.com

 

[knightfan7]

Did you really need to start a 2nd thread?

 

[knightfan7]

Rutgers played better today. Unfortunately, so did the field. Their round, a 8 Over 296, was T11th out of 14. They remain 13th at 25 Over with 14th place PSU only 3 strokes back and Iowa and Illinois 3 strokes ahead. Michigan State has built what would seem an insurrmountable lead with a 2 day total of 14 Under Par, 11 strokes ahead of 2nd place Indiana.

At least they reduced the number of double bogeys or worse from 10 to 5.

Leigha Devine once again led RU after a 4 Birdie, 3 Bogey 1 Under 71 and Even Par for the tourney, enabling her to move up 3 places into a T13. She was followed by Lucrezia Rossettin (T59) with a 1 Over 73. Emily James (T73) improved her Round 1 score by 8 strokes with a +3, 75. Lorens Rossettin (T52) and Cathi Graff (T62) shot 5 Over 77's and Rikke Nordvik shot her 2nd 80+ Round and stands 82nd out of 84.

Individually Michigan State's Katie Lu and Indiana's Carolyn Craig share the lead at -6, 1 stroke ahead of Michigan's Monet Chung and Michigan State's Paula Balanzategui. Two behind in 5th is last year's 4th Place finisher, Isabel Sy from Illinois.

Top 5 after 2nd Round

1. #32 Michigan State......-14
2. #74 Indiana.....................-3
3. #37 Michigan..................-1
4. #33 Purdue....................+5
5. #9 Northwestern..........+6

In tomorrow's final, Rutgers will again start on #10 with 4 players paired with Illinois and PSU and 2 paired with players from Iowa and Minnesota. First shot is scheduled a bit after 830AM.

 

[knightfan7]

So in the Final Round Rutgers shot a 9 Over 297 and +34 for the Championship, The team was able climb 2 spots, finishing Tied for 11th with #67 Illinois and ahead of #93 iowa and #100 Penn State who tied fior 13th at +38.

The 11th Place finish tied RU's best finish in the 9 years competing in the B1G Championship.

The huge 11 stroke lead #32 Michigan State held turned out not to be enough as #74 Indana caught and passed them winning by 1 stroke in what has to be considered an upset. At -5 Indiana didn't shoot the best score of the day (Northwestern -7) but combined with MSU's, +7 it was enough.

Rutgers was led once again by Leigha Devine, shooting her 2nd -1, 71 in a row. She finished T10, marking her 2nd B1G Championship Top 10 after finishing 5th last year. Just another RU record of sorts she's accumulated during her time. It also marked her 4th Top 10 in 8 Spring events. Cathi Graf (T49) shot a +1, 73. Rikke Nordvik (81) shot +3, 75. Freshmen Lorena Rossettin (T62) and Emily James (T72) shot 78's and Lucrezia Rossettin (T67) shot 79. Obviously your team isn't going to do well when 4 of 6 finish in the bottom third of the field.

The individual title was a 3-way tie. Last year, Minnesota's Isabela McCauley was the victim of a B1G Championship record round (62) by an Illini golfer and finished 2nd. She turned it around this year and shot 64 to tie. She was joined at 7 Under by Caroline Craig of Indiana and Michigan's Monet Chun.

That's it for a season that started poorly, improved greatly, then struggled at the end. Best wishes to Leigha Devine and Cathi Graf as they move on.

Final Top 5

1. #74 Indiana.....................-8
2. #32 Michigan State.......-7
3. #9 Northwestern...........-1
T4. #33 Purdue....................E
T4. #37 Michigan.................E

 

[Tango Two]

Women's Golf Secures Best-Ever Finish at Big Ten Championships - Rutgers University Athletics

scarletknights.com

 

[knightfan7]

Women's Golf Secures Best-Ever Finish at Big Ten Championships - Rutgers University Athletics

scarletknights.com

Two corrections to the article and 1 for me......I had the wrong year (I believe it was the men's best in 2019) but this wasn't the team's all time best finish. They finished solo 11th in 2022 with a team 903 in Pittsburgh where the '22 and '23 titles were held.

Also the Rossettin sisters did not finish tied for 62nd. Lucrezia finished T67.

To add, yesterday was Michigan's Monet Chun's 2nd B1G Individual title. She won outright in 2022.

 

[kupuna133]

Women's Golf Secures Best-Ever Finish at Big Ten Championships - Rutgers University Athletics

scarletknights.com

Nothing like participation trophy headlines.

Best ever Finish? They finished 11th! Most departments hide results like this not attempt to justify horrific results.

 

[knightfan7]

Nothing like participation trophy headlines.

Best ever Finish? They finished 11th! Most departments hide results like this not attempt to justify horrific results.

That's why, while I don't attack, I put my own thoughts in a way that hopefully get the point across while knowing full well they'd kick my butt into next week on the course.

What I don't understand is how they could delcare it the best when 2 short years ago they finished solo 11th.

"RU produced an 892 to place 11th, its highest-ever finish at the conference championships since it joined the league during the 2014-15 season."

It was not the result you'd hope for but the team didn't finish last like so many times before. Like many RU sports they came into the B1G at a disadvantage. They have been the best team in the NE as the results show whenever they face others but that's no help when you go up against conference opponents most of whom have been playing at a high level year after year after year and it's going to be much, much harder with the new additions.

From the Athletics site 4/24/22......

I may post an end of season wrapup for both teams showing statistical info and a few random thoughts from miles away.

 

[kupuna133]

That's why, while I don't attack, I put my own thoughts in a way that hopefully get the point across while knowing full well they'd kick my butt into next week on the course.

What I don't understand is how they could delcare it the best when 2 short years ago they finished solo 11th.

"RU produced an 892 to place 11th, its highest-ever finish at the conference championships since it joined the league during the 2014-15 season."

It was not the result you'd hope for but the team didn't finish last like so many times before. Like many RU sports they came into the B1G at a disadvantage. They have been the best team in the NE as the results show whenever they face others but that's no help when you go up against conference opponents most of whom have been playing at a high level year after year after year and it's going to be much, much harder with the new additions.

From the Athletics site 4/24/22......

I may post an end of season wrapup for both teams showing statistical info and a few random thoughts from miles away.

Yes your reactions are similar to mine. No need by the SID or whomever wrote the headline to draw any attention to the team results. They are not good from a team standpoint. 11th out of 14 does not deserve accolades. They should have concentrated on leigha devines individual top 10. I know the girls are trying and working hard but men’s and women’s golf needs to step up their game when it comes to competing at the B1G level.

 

[knightfan7]

Yes your reactions are similar to mine. No need by the SID or whomever wrote the headline to draw any attention to the team results. They are not good from a team standpoint. 11th out of 14 does not deserve accolades. They should have concentrated on leigha devines individual top 10. I know the girls are trying and working hard but men’s and women’s golf needs to step up their game when it comes to competing at the B1G level.

The Men have been in better shape than the Women and likely will continue. They're currently ranked #88 out of 306 and 8th in the B1G. Depending on the outcome of the Conf Championship, otherwise known as Illinois and those other guys, they likely will finish somewhere 7th to 9th as Michigan and Wisconsin bookend them at #84 and #90.

 

[RUTrack94]

Congrats on the finish!!!!

Top 12 (tied for 11) in conference is a bump up from last year.

Good job!

 

[knightfan7]

Congrats on the finish!!!!

Top 12 (tied for 11) in conference is a bump up from last year.

Good job!

People may be tired of hearing it but they are where they should be expected to be. There are B1G teams that dedicate a lot more to their golf teams most notably in practice facilities. Take a look at Ilinois down to Penn State. It has to make recruiting more difficult than it already is and may be a reason why they have to recruit almost exclusively in Europe and Canada.

Now, there have been roster issues on the Women's side. In '22-'23 they went thru the entire season with 5 players after 3 (2 Frosh, and 1 Senior to be) left the team between the Spring and Fall. They had to WD from one event when they didn't have enough players to continue and played the B1G Championship (6 players, 4 scores count) short 1 player.


Next year they bring in 2 players to replace the 2 who have used up their eligibility. A 3rd has a Covid year if she so chooses. If not, they're looking at a 6 player team which based on past history seems like a really bad idea. They'd need to see if they can get anyone from the portal.