Huskers Continue Strong Play at Indiana

Bloomington, Ind. – Kate Smith, Alice Duan and Michaela Vavrova all produced top-20 individual finishes to lead the Nebraska women’s golf team to a tie for sixth in a loaded 16-team field at the Indiana Spring Invitational Sunday.

Smith, a senior from Detroit Lakes, Minn., continued her impressive play with a tie for eighth. Smith finished with a three-round total of 217 (+1) that included back-to-back rounds of 72 (E) to open the tournament before adding a final-round 73. It marked the 20th top-10 finish of Smith’s illustrious Husker career, including her fourth in five tournaments this spring.

Alice Duan added her best tournament performance as a Husker, as the graduate transfer from Reno, Nev., tied for 12th with a Nebraska-best three-round total of 218 (+2). Duan opened the tournament with a one-under-par 71 on Saturday, and closed it with an even-par 72 Sunday. She added a second-round 75.

Freshman Michaela Vavrova (Bojnice, Slovakia) captured her second straight top-20 individual finish with a career-best tie for 19th at 221 (74-75-72). 

The top-20 finishes for the three Huskers came in a 98-player field that featured all 14 Big Ten teams and 14 teams overall that entered the tournament ranked among the top 100 in the country. The field also included 12 golfers ranked individually among the top 100 nationally, including Smith who entered at No. 31 and notched three wins over top-25 golfers on the weekend.

“The Pfau Course was a good warmup for the Big Ten Championship this coming week,” Nebraska Head Coach Lisa Johnson said. “We saw excellent play from Kate, Alice and Miska (Michaela Vavrova), especially after nearly a one month break from team competition. All three are peaking at the right time. Our finish among the Big Ten teams gives us some important momentum heading into the conference tournament.”

Junior Megan Whittaker (Elkhorn, Neb.) rounded out Nebraska’s team score in the six-count-four format at Indiana on Sunday. Whittaker’s final-round 78 (+6) allowed the Huskers to finish with a final-round score of 295. The Big Red opened with a 294, before adding a second-round 298 on the par-72, 6,254-yard layout at The Pfau Course. The Huskers finished with a three-round team total of 887 to match No. 40 Illinois in a tie for sixth.

No. 17 Kent State captured the team title with a three-round score of 856, while No. 19 Maryland took second at 866, 10 strokes back of the Golden Flashes. No. 41 Michigan State took third (870), while No. 23 Michigan finished fourth (877) and No. 21 Northwestern rounded out the top five at 883, just four shots ahead of the No. 58 Huskers.

The Big Red finished five shots ahead of No. 42 Purdue (892) in eighth, and 15 strokes up on No. 70 Penn State and No. 74 Minnesota, which tied for ninth at 902.  The Huskers were 17 strokes better than No. 55 Ohio State and No. 94 Wisconsin, which tied for 11th at 904.

Kent State’s Emily Price, Michigan State’s Valery Plata and Michigan’s Ashley Lau shared medalist honors with 54-hole scores of 212 (-4).

The Huskers head to the Big Ten Championship at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio, April 23-25. 

Indiana Invitational

Bloomington, Indiana (The Pfau Course)

Par 72, 6,254 Yards

April 17-18, 2021

Final Team Results

1. Kent State (17) – 290-279-287=856 (-8)

2. Maryland (19) – 291-287-288=866 (+2)

3. Michigan State (41) – 292-293-285=870 (+6)

4. Michigan State (23) – 292-294-291=877 (+13)

5. Northwestern (21) – 296-300-287=883 (+19)

T6. Nebraska (58) –  294-298-295=887 (+23)

T6. Illinois (40) – 292-301-294=887 (+23)

8. Purdue (42) – 307-295-290=892 (+28)

T9. Penn State (70) – 302-304-296=902 (+38)

T9. Minnesota (74) – 304-299-299=902 (+38)

T11. Ohio State (55) – 304-303-297=904 (+40)

T11. Wisconsin (94) – 302-310-292=904 (+40)

13. Xavier (98) – 299-310-299=908 (+44)

14. Iowa (83) – 307-304-306=917 (+53)

15. Indiana (156) – 313-313-302=928 (+64)

16. Rutgers (111) – 315-306-314=935 (+71)

GolfStat national rankings in parentheses

Final Individual Results

T1. Ashley Lau (50), Michigan – 73-71-68=212 (-4)

T1. Valery Plata (58), Michigan State – 69-73-70 (-4)

T1. Emily Price (27), Kent State – 73-67-72=212 (-4)

T4. Irene Kim (22), Northwestern – 73-73-69=215 (-1)

T4. Tristyn Nowlin (99), Illinois – 73-71-71=215 (-1)

T6. Chloe Salort, Kent State – 72-74-70=216 (E)

T6. Sifat Sagoo, Purdue – 75-70-71=216 (E)

T8. Kate Smith (31), Nebraska – 72-72-73=217 (+1)

T8. Kan Bunnabodee, Purdue – 74-73-70=217 (+1)

T8. Paz Marfa, Michigan State – 73-73-71=217 (+1)

T8. Kory Nielsen, Kent State – 73-69-75=217 (+1)

Nebraska Individuals

T8. Kate Smith – 72-72-73=217 (+1)

T12. Alice Duane – 71-75-72=218 (+2)

T19. Michaela Vavrova – 74-75-72=221 (+5)

T65. Megan Whittaker – 77-78-78=233 (+17)

T69. Kirsten Baete – 79-76-79=234 (+18)

T94. Lindsey Thiele – 85-78-85=248 (+32)