Natasha Andrea Oon claimed the individual title and led the San Jose State women’s golf team to victory in its first tournament under new Coach Dana Dormann in the Minnesota Invitational at Prestwick Golf Course in Woodbury, Minn.
The Spartans posted a winning score of 282-287-291—860, 4-under-par, while Virginia Tech was second at 283-290-299—872, followed by Louisville at 292-290-291—873,
East Carolina at 288-282-304—874 and Kentucky at 294-286-300—880.
“We are very excited for this win,” said Dormann, a former Spartan All-American and two-time LPGA Tour winner who has major champion Pat Hurst as her assistant. “We made lots of birdies and are excited to continue this throughout the season. Natasha was amazing this tournament, and the rest of the team elevated their games as well.
“We had a lot of good putting on this course, and having Pat (Hurst) here helped us as well. I think a big key to our improvements is the Spartan Golf Complex which allowed us to get our games in shape and will allow us to continue to do well.”
Middle Tennessee was sixth at 283-297-301—881, followed by Notre Dame at 292-295-295—882, while Oklahoma totaled 290-298-295—883 to tie for eighth with Kansas, which finished at 297-295-291—883, and Missouri was 10th at 295-294-297—886.
San Francisco wound up 13th at 296-297-309—902.
Oon, a freshman from Malaysia, won in her college debut with a score of 67-70-70—207, 9-under-par, while Emily Mahar of Virginia Tech was second at 70-71-72—213, and Hanley Long of Middle Tennessee totaled 71-71-72—214 to tie for third with Yi-Tsen Chou of Kansas, who wound up at 76-70-68—214, and Grace Kellar of Minnesota, who finished at 73-68-73—214.
“I am very happy to win my first collegiate tournament,” said Oon, whose titles include the Honda Junior Classic, Callaway Junior World, Jakarta Junior World and the 2018 Kelantan Amateur Open, the 2017 Preak Amateur Open, the 2017 Selangor Amateur Open and the 2016 Sabah International Junior Masters. “It’s so nice that we won the team title too.
“On my eagle on the third hole (in the final round), I hit a really good drive with help from the wind. I had about 196 yards to the hole and hit a hybrid to the right of the pin. The ball hit the edge of the bunker and rolled near the pin. I then made a seven-foot putt for the eagle.”
Lauren Hartlage of Louisville shot 72-70-73—215 to tie for sixth with Leonie Bettel of Kentucky, who finished at 72-72-71—215, while Abegail Arevalo of San Jose State was eighth at 74-71-71—216.
Alexandra Cooper of San Jose State carded a score of 69-74-74—217 to tie for ninth with Carley Cox of East Carolina, who finished at 69-73-75—217, Lauren Cox of North Texas, who wound up at 69-73-75–217, and Jessica Spicer of Virginia Tech, who came in at 70-71-76—217.
Annika Borrelli led San Francisco in a tie for 22nd at 71-75-57—221.
Rounding out the scoring for team champion San Jose State were Franziska Friedrich in a tie for 29th at 72-74-76—222, and Samantha Bruce in a tie for 53rd at 77-72-78—227.
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