Baete Finishes Fourth at Big Ten Championship

Pittsburgh – Nebraska’s Kirsten Baete fired a three-under-par 68 to storm up the leader board for a fourth-place individual at the 2022 Big Ten Women’s Golf Championship on Sunday at Fox Chapel Golf Club.

A fifth-year senior from Beatrice, Neb., Baete played Sunday’s front nine at four-under-par (32) before adding her fifth birdie of the round on No. 10 to move to six-under for the tournament. After a par on No. 11, she settled for back-to-back bogeys on No. 12 and 13, before closing her round with five straight pars. Baete, who entered the final round in a tie for 13th, closed the tournament at 212 (-4) over 54 holes on the 6,045-yard, par-71 layout at Fox Chapel. 

Baete’s performance also earned her a spot on the Big Ten All-Championship Team.

“Kirsten played excellent golf throughout the week. She scored well on the front nine all three days, and finally grinded out an under-par round,” Nebraska Head Coach Lisa Johnson said. “I am really proud of her for the way she played this week and worked to continue to improve throughout the year.”

Michaela Vavrova (Bojnice, Slovakia), who entered the final round in a tie for fifth, battled her way to a 79 (+8) over the final 18 holes to tie for 17th overall as NU’s No. 2 finisher in her second conference tournament appearance.

Vanessa Bouvet (Brunei/France) put up Nebraska’s second-best round of the day with a 72 (+1) to tie for 24th overall at 221 (+8) giving Nebraska three top-25 individual Big Ten finishers for the second consecutive year at the 14-team tournament.

Megan Whittaker (Elkhorn, Neb.) added a solid final round of 74 (+2) to close in a tie for 33rd at 223. The Huskers got their fourth counting score of the day from Nicole Hansen, who managed a 78 and closed the tournament at 236 in a tie for 73rd.

As a team, Nebraska put together a 292 in Sunday’s six-count-format, ending the championship in seventh place. The Huskers gained strokes on Northwestern, Illinois and Maryland on the day, but were unable to pass them on the team leader board.

Michigan won the Big Ten title with a three-round total of 857, including a final-round 291. The Wolverines, who were led by Big Ten individual champion Monet Chun (205, -8), outlasted in-state rival Michigan State by four strokes (861). The Spartans also managed a 291 in the final round. Ohio State and Northwestern tied for third at 864, while Illinois (870) and Maryland (873) rounded out the teams ahead of the Huskers.

Michigan’s Chun won the individual title by four strokes over Ohio State’s Faith Choi (209), while Northwestern’s Jennifer Cai took third at 211 (-2), just one shot ahead of Baete in fourth.

Big Ten Championship

April 22-24, 2022

Pittsburgh, Pa. (Fox Chapel Golf Club)

Par 71, 6,045 Yards

Final Team Standings

1. Michigan – 285-281-291=857 (+5)

2. Michigan State – 282-288-291=861 (+9)

T3. Ohio State – 289-288-287=864 (+12)

T3. Northwestern – 289-281-294=864 (+12)

5. Illinois – 288-284-298=870 (+18)

6. Maryland – 288-289-296=873 (+21)

7. Nebraska – 294-289-292=875 (+23)

8. Purdue – 285-299-294=878 (+26)

9. Wisconsin – 299-289-293=881 (+29)

10. Penn State – 304-296-292=892 (+40)

11. Rutgers – 296-305-302=903 (+51)

12. Minnesota – 299-301-309=909 (+57)

13. Indiana – 313-303-306=922 (+70)

14. Iowa – 309-307-312=928 (+76)

Final Individual Standings

1. Monet Chun, Michigan – 70-66-69=205 (-8)

2. Faith Choi, Ohio State – 71-71-67=209 (-4)

3. Jennifer Cai, Northwestern – 71-68-72=211 (-2)

4. Kirsten Baete, Nebraska – 71-73-68=212 (-1)

5. Maria Vittoria Corbi, Maryland – 69-71-74=214 (+1)

T6. Emily Lauterbach, Wisconsin – 72-74-69=215 (+3)

T6. Lauryn Nguyen, Northwestern – 74-70-71=215 (+3)

T6. Patricie Mackova, Maryland – 70-74-71=215 (+3)

T6. Leila Raines, Michigan State – 68-74-73-=215 (+2)

T6. Crystal Wang, Illinois – 72-66-77=215 (+2)

Nebraska Individuals 

4. Kirsten Baete – 71-73-68=212 (-1)

T17. Michaela Vavrova – 68-73-79=220 (+7)

T24. Vanessa Bouvet – 78-71-72=221 (+8)

T33. Megan Whittaker – 77-72-74=223 (+10)

T73. Nicole Hansen – 81-77-78=236 (+23)

T80. Miu Takahashi – 82-77-82=241 (+28)