Badgers take down Kentucky to advance to championship final

Monday, September 19

Radrick Farms Golf Course, Ann Arbor, MI

All Day

Wisconsin Badgers

East West Match Play Challenge

Photo by: David Stluka

Badgers take down Kentucky to advance to championship final

September 19, 2016 | Women's Golf

Ferrell, Curtis and Klongland lead UW, will face Oregon in final

Ann Arbor, Mich. – It went down to the wire and took extra holes but the third-seeded Wisconsin women's golf team took down second seed Kentucky in dramatic fashion in the semifinals of the East & West Match Play Challenge at the Radrick Farms Golf Course in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Badgers will take on fourth-seeded Oregon in Tuesday's championship final.

Senior Brooke Ferrell took down Ale Walker, five and four, to give the Badgers their first point. Junior Gabby Curtis then defeated her Wildcat opponent 1-up. With the match tied at 2-2, the stage was set for Becky Klongland. Klongland held a 1-up lead but bogeyed No. 16 to square the match. On the second extra hole, Klongland rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt to put the Badgers into the title match and set off a green-wide celebration.

Here's the clincher. 20-foot birdie putt on 20th hole sends the #Badgers to the championship match. #Clutch pic.twitter.com/GqCt1skmZz
— Wisconsin Golf (@BadgerWGolf) September 19, 2016

"To have the final match when we were all tied up go to extra holes and finish on the 20th hole with a birdie putt was a great experience," UW head coach Todd Oehrlein said. "Everyone played incredibly well today and there were a lot of positive things to take from it. We're excited and it gives us plenty of momentum heading into tomorrow."

Wisconsin's two losses of the day came at the hands of Josephine Chang, who defeated junior Nat Zeng, five and four, and Jordan Chael, who beat sophomore Tess Hackworthy four and two.

In individual play, fourth-seeded junior Ali Nageotte fell to top seed Sarah Shipley of Kentucky, 4-and-2. Nageotte will face second-seeded Kate Granahan of Penn State to play for third place. The competitors tee off at 8:54 a.m.

Tuesday's team championship final against Oregon will tee off at 9:48 a.m. Live scoring can be found at GolfStat.

"It will be a great match," Oehrlein said. "Competitive for sure, Oregon was in the final eight last year of the NCAA championships, but with what I saw today it will be exciting."