The No. 11 Virginia women’s golf team traveled to Guadalajara, Mexico Friday to participate in the two-day, three-round Collegiate Invitational at Jalisco Country Club. The team faced off against 10 other schools, including No 12 Florida State, No. 23 TCU and No. 25 Houston. The Cavaliers finished third at three-over-par, despite entering as the highest-ranked team in the field. Florida State captured the victory at 10-under, while TCU came in a distant second at four-under.
On the individual side of things, senior Amanda Sambach finished in third place at five-under, while graduate student Rebecca Skoler finished seventh at one-under. The Seminoles claimed the top two individuals, as Junior Mirabel Ting won the event at an incredible 12-under, with her teammate, junior Lottie Woad, finishing in second at six-under.
After the tournament’s first round, Virginia found itself in a three-way tie for first at four-under. Sambach came out of the gates playing lights out, collecting three birdies and only two bogeys during her first round. And on hole 18, a long par five, she dropped in an eagle to tally a three-under 69 on the day, putting her in a tie for second place. Skoler, who played as an independent, also began fast, posting a two-under 70. Sophomore Jaclyn Laha contributed a one-under 71 as well to help the Cavaliers to that tie with Florida State and TCU.
However, the Cavaliers began to fall apart a bit throughout round two, signing a plethora of high scorecards as only two players posted scores under par. Once again, Sambach stayed consistent, posting another three-under 69, while Skoler stayed in the red with a score of one-under 71. Sambach’s six-under 66 left her tied for the lead heading into the third round, while Skoler sat in a tie for fourth.
Besides that, it was all bad news for Virginia. They finished the round at a collective four-over, making them even for the tournament. This put them into a distant third place, long behind the first-place Seminoles, who were 10-under but only three strokes behind the Horned Frogs.
Round three continued the trend of round two, as Virginia maintained its third-place spot, more out of consistent middling play than anything else. The Cavaliers put together a collective three-over-par round without a single round under par. Senior Morgan Propeck put together the best score, finishing even-par, while Sambach and Skoler had their first bad days of the event, scoring one-over and two-over, respectively. Sambach fell out of first place into third, while Skoler finished seventh. The team finished with a disappointing score of three-over for the event, falling seven strokes behind TCU in second place and 13 behind Florida State.
Virginia played solid in most ways throughout the week but simply could not capitalize on its opportunities well enough. The Cavaliers finished first in scoring average on par fives and carded the second-least bogeys, trailing only Florida State. However, though the players limited their mistakes, they could not make positive things happen, falling behind in the birdie count. The lack of depth seemed to hurt the Cavaliers, too, as Skoler and Sambach seemed to be the only ones consistently capable of posting good scores, while their teammates were capable of posting extremely high numbers.
Virginia has a chance to regroup later this month, as it will travel to Suntree Country Club in Melbourne, Fla. for the Moon Golf Invitational Feb. 16-18. Louisville is hosting the tournament, and No. 1 Florida, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 9 Florida and No. 10 LSU are all among the participants.
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