Michigan Wraps Up Play at Spring Opener in Puerto Rico

Tuesday, February 17

Rio Grande, Puerto Rico

7:30 AM AT

Michigan

Lady Puerto Rico Classic

Michigan Wraps Up Play at Spring Opener in Puerto Rico

2/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf

Feb. 17, 2015

• Notes & Quotes

Site: Rio Grande, Puerto Rico
Course: Rio Mar Country Club - River Course (par 72, 6,203 yards)
Tournament: Lady Puerto Rico Classic
U-M Team Standing: 15th Place of 15 Teams (312-320-314/946)
Top U-M Individual: Grace Choi, 55th (79-75-79/233)
Next U-M Event: Mon-Wed., March 2-4 -- at Hurricane Invitational (Miami, Fla.)

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico -- The University of Michigan women's golf team shot a 320 final round today (Tuesday, Feb. 17) to close with a 946 team total and finish 15th at Purdue's Lady Puerto Rico Classic played on the Rio Mar Country Club's River Course. The event marked U-M's spring opener.

Making their eighth straight spring opening appearance at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic, which featured nine teams ranked among the top 50, the Wolverines opened with a 312 on Sunday (Feb. 15) as Kathy Lim paced U-M with a 75. Starting with a bogey on the 12th hole, she double bogeyed the 16th hole to sit three over. Over her next nine holes she had three birdies and six pars to draw back to even with two holes remaining. However, a bogey on the eighth hole and a double bogey on the ninth pushed her back to three over, where she stayed. Megan Kim's 76 and Grace Choi's 79 aided U-M's opening-day team tally as the Wolverines sat in the 13th position.

In Monday's (Feb. 16) second round, Choi carded the Wolverines' second 75 of the event, and U-M fell to 15th after totaling a 320. Beginning the round on the 15th hole, Choi had back-to-back bogeys, before a birdie on the 17th put her one over as she moved to the front nine. A bogey on No. 2 and back-to-back double bogeys on Nos. 6 and 7 had her six over heading into the 11th tee. Choi closed the round birdieing three of her last four holes to post U-M's best round.

The Wolverines finished today's final round improving with a closing 314. Kim's 76 highlighted the day's play. She began with a par on the 14th hole and moved to one over after a bogey on the 17th, which was quickly negated with a birdie on the 18th. Moving to the front side, she posted back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 1 and 2, before a second birdie of the day put her back to one over with nine to play. Three additional bogeys on Nos. 8, 12 and 13 closed her round at four over. After posting rounds of 80 and 83 during the first two days, Emily White ended with a 78, while Choi closed with her second 79.

Choi led U-M for the first time this season, tying for 55th at 233 (79-75-79). A shot back of Choi, Kim tied for 58th at 234 (78-80-76), while Lim rounded out U-M's top three, tying for 67th at 239 (75-83-81). Other Wolverine individual finishes included White's tie for 71st at 241 (80-83-78) and Julia Montgomery tying for 75th at 243 (80-82-81).

The Wolverines will return to Ann Arbor for 10 days of training before heading back down south to Miami, Florida, Monday through Wednesday (March 2-4) for Miami's Hurricane Invitational. The three-day, 54-hole event will be played at the Biltmore Golf Course. Last season, U-M finished 12th in Miami's event.

Final Team Standings

 1. Arkansas       290-295-291 = 876 2. LSU            296-292-295 = 883 3. Iowa State     293-294-297 = 884 4. Northwestern   296-299-291 = 886 5. Purdue         300-300-290 = 890 6. Kent State     291-300-301 = 892 7. TCU            293-302-298 = 893 8. N.C. State     297-310-294 = 901    Indiana        301-304-296 = 90110. Auburn         302-301-300 = 90311. GRU Augusta    310-303-296 = 90912. Georgia        306-313-313 = 93213. Iowa           317-307-309 = 93314. Clemson        319-310-307 = 93615. MICHIGAN       312-320-314 = 946

Top Individuals

 1. Chonlada Chayanun, Iowa State   66-69-74 = 209 2. Hannah Kim, Northwestern        72-74-68 = 214 3. Madelene Sagstrom, LSU          71-73-71 = 215    Elise Bradley, LSU              71-72-72 = 215    Gaby Lopez, Arkansas            69-75-71 = 215 6. Elizabeth Tong, Indiana         73-73-71 = 217    August Kim, Purdue              72-72-73 = 217 8. Alexandra Bonetti, TCU          76-72-70 = 218    Summar Roachell, Arkansas       72-72-74 = 218    Jordy Labarbera, Arkansas       75-73-70 = 218    Lindsay McGetrick, N.C. State   74-76-68 = 218

Michigan Individuals

T55. Grace Choi           79-75-79 = 233T58. Megan Kim            78-80-76 = 234T67. Kathy Lim            75-83-81 = 239T71. Emily White          80-83-78 = 241T75. Julia Montgomery     80-82-81 = 243

N O T E S

• Michigan made its eighth straight spring opening event at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic.

• Grace Choi was the highest-finishing Wolverine for the first time this season. Last season, she was the top Wolverine in five of the 10 events.

• Kathy Lim and Julia Montgomery are the only Wolverines to start all five events this season.

Q U O T E S

Michigan Head Coach Jan Dowling
On spring season opener at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic ... "Competition and tournaments are a wonderful opportunity for learning. It is safe to say we learned a lot over the last three days. We came in feeling ready but we were lacking some focus and discipline. Some of that caused some bigger numbers on some holes and that hurt us in the end. We are frustrated because we know we can play so much better. However at the same time, if you are going to have a bad tournament you would want that the beginning of the spring and not at the end. This will wake us up. I have a feeling this team is going to be motivated to work hard and continued to get better as we move further into the spring season. We did have some good individual play on different days and that is encouraging. It was great to see Grace (Choi) put three rounds together."

On the challenges of the course ... "The River Course really forces you to be accurate off the tee. We got into trouble off the tee and that hurt us. If I know this team we are going to get back, get to work right away and make those adjustments so the next time we will not make those mistakes again."

On playing against some of the top teams in the country to open the spring ... "This tournament is a wonderful chance for us to measure ourselves against some of the top teams in the country. It's a great challenge. We feel we are getting better and we want to be one of those top teams as well. In order to do that, you have to compete against them and learn. We are continuing to do that with each day."

Communications Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423