COLUMBUS, Ohio – Junior
Becky Klongland overcame bogeys on her first two holes to shoot the Badgers' best round of the day, even-par 72, in Wednesday's final round of the NCAA Columbus Regional on the Scarlet Course at the Ohio State Golf Club.Â
With the Badgers starting on the back nine for the third straight day, Klongland did not make a bogey after her second hole. She made birdie putts at No. 14 and No. 2 and then saved par with a clutch chip to within a foot on No. 8 and an 8-foot par putt on No. 9, her final two holes of the day.
Klongland was one of just 12 players to shoot even par or better on the round and her performance shot her up the leaderboard. She was the Badgers' top individual finisher, placing 25th after picking up 12 spots between rounds two and three.
Looking to make up a nine-shot deficit after the second round and try to get among the top six teams to qualify for the NCAA Championships, the Badgers struggled most of the day to gain any momentum. As a team, UW placed 13th out of the 18 teams at the regional.
"We tried to force the issue a little bit too much early in the round, got ourselves on the wrong side of some pins and maybe didn't stay as patient as we needed to," UW head coach
Todd Oehrlein said. "That will be something that we can definitely learn from."
Sophomore Nat Zeng was the Badgers' second finisher behind Klongland, tying for 43rd at +15. Junior
Gabby Curtis tied for 61st place at +20 while senior
Michelle Cheung, in her last competition as a Badger, and sophomore
Jessica Reinecke both tied for 76th at +26.
Wisconsin was making its eighth appearance as a team in an NCAA regional, including its fifth in the last seven years. The Badgers finished the season with a school-record scoring average of 296.2 strokes per round.
"I just told them how proud I was of the season, to put themselves in this position," Oehrlein said. "There's a lot they can learn from this experience. It's one of those things where every time you do it, you can get a little bit better."
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