ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The Navy Women’s Golf Team battled the harshest weather conditions in the three-day Patriot League Championship on Sunday to move up one spot to third in the final standings. The Mids posted +76 (940) over three days to finish behind No. 1 Boston U.’s +64 (928) and No. 2 Richmond’s +65 (929) at the Naval Academy Golf Course in Annapolis.
“When you think about it,” the Navy head coach said Nadia Ste-Marie“12 shots for a tournament is one player a day. It’s really not much, it’s close. It seems like a lot, but it’s really close when it comes to golf. It only takes one to win, but one shot better than one player and we’re level.”
Scores soared on Sunday due to cold and windy conditions before the first tee shots were in the air until the final putt fell. The four scorers of the six teams posted an average of +39 (327) on Sunday after an average of +30 (318) on Friday and +25 (313) on Saturday. There were only eight individual rounds in the 70s today after there were 28 such combined efforts in rounds one (15) and two (13).
Navy’s +30 (318) score on Sunday was bettered that day by Boston U. by just four strokes (+26, 314) and Richmond by just two strokes (+28, 316). This effort allowed the Mids to overtake the Mountain Hawks in the final standings. Lehigh entered the day in third place five shots ahead of Navy, but the Mountain Hawks posted a +61 (339) in the third round to finish the championship at +92 (339).
“We know how difficult this course is when it’s windy, especially in the spring,” said Ste-Marie. “We did well. There are still a few holes we need to be more comfortable with to be able to play better at home in these conditions. But I’m proud of them; they held up and it was a big job , especially today with it being a bit colder.”
Three Mids were awarded across all leagues for their respective performances during the championship. Angelina Chan (Jr., Franklin, Tennessee) placed fifth to earn All-League First-Team honors, Stephanie Lee (So., Southlake, Texas) tied for seventh place to earn a spot on the second team and Mara Hirtle (So., Pinehurst, NC) placed ninth to join Lee on the second team.
Each of the three Mids had already received first-team laurels in 2021.
Chan shot a +4 (76) on Sunday to post the second highest score by an individual in the final round. Only Boston U. tournament medalist FLair Kuan, who shot a +2 (74), beat Chan that day. Chan finished the tournament with a score of +18 (234). Lee recorded a +10 (82) on Sunday to score a +18 (236) for the event. Hirtle followed up his +6 (78) on Saturday with a +7 (79) on Sunday to total a +22 (238) for the event.
Additionally, Chan and Hirtle made some of the biggest improvements from their respective Saturday-Sunday field placements. The former started the day tied for 11th before finishing fifth and the latter started the third round tied for 15th before finishing the championship in ninth place.
Joining Chan and Hirtle in improving its six-place position on Sunday was Navy’s Eve Worden (Jr., Phoenix, Arizona). She entered the first hole today tied for 19th and by the end of the game she was tied for 13th.
Besides this trio of Mids, only Emily Ward of Richmond made a six-place improvement from round two through three.
“It shows you how difficult it was,” Ste-Marie said. “We finished third as a team and had three golfers in the top 10. We needed that fourth score to help us. We’re almost there.
“We are well placed. We continue to grow.”
Navy has now placed in the top three in each of the last four times the championship has been contested and five times in the seven years the event has had a six-team field. Those five top-three finishes in seven tries rank third behind seven from Boston U. and six from Richmond.
Final team classification
1. Boston University +64 (313-301-314=928)
2.Richmond +65 (311-302-316=929)
3. Navy +76 (306-316-318=940)
4. Lehigh +92 (304-313-339-956)
5. Bucknell +119 (336-317-330=983)
6. Holy Cross +145 (338-327-344=1009)
