The Ithaca College women’s golf team won its first title of the season, defeating eight other teams in the William Smith Invitational on Sept. 18 in Geneva, New York.
With this win, the Bombers continued the hot start to their season after finishing third in their first tournament of the season two weeks ago.
The Blue and Gold battled tough weather conditions throughout the weekend. After the first day, head coach Molly Braid said that it was extremely windy, but the women pushed through the conditions.
“That, combined with some fast greens, made for a challenging test,” Braid said.
Despite the conditions, the Bombers powered through to shoot 336 as a team and lead the standings by five strokes going into the second day.
They maintained that same consistency the next day. The South Hill squad shaved off seven points, shooting 329 on the second day and finished the tournament with a total score of 665 with four players finishing in the top 10.
Leading the way for Ithaca was senior Kimberley Wong, who placed second overall with a score of 162. Wong said the team had been working very hard on their short game and it paid off this weekend.
“The greens were very challenging, so it was nice to see some of the things that we’ve been working on coming along,” she said.
Following Wong in third place overall was junior Indiana Jones. She had the best score for the Blue and Gold on the second day, shooting an impressive 79. In particular, Jones shot a very impressive 39 on the back nine, which included a birdie-two on the 16th hole.
Placing fifth overall with a score of 167 on the tournament was junior Kyra Denish. Denish acknowledged that the high winds and rain made things a lot more difficult but stated that the team pulled through and shot well.
“We also played against some tough teams, and to come out on top of them was especially rewarding,” Denish said.
Freshman Peyton Greco finished the invitational tied for ninth overall and improved one stroke from her first-round performance.
Junior Lauren Saylor and senior Mary Rooker improved significantly from their first day on the green. Saylor improved six strokes to finish in 18th place with a score of 88, her second-lowest score when shooting 18 holes. Rooker improved seven strokes to finish at 97 and placed 35th.
Braid said it was a great experience for the team to sleep on a lead and capitalize on it the next day. She was excited to see the team’s hard work from the past few weeks translate into a victory.
The South Hill squad will be back on the course Sept. 24–25 when they play in the Martin-Wallace Invitational at the Cortland Country Club in Cortland, New York.
