Forty-five minutes before Phil Mickelson sunk a birdie on the 18th hole at Augusta National to earn his third Master’s title on Sunday, the drama in Tempe, where Lefty played golf collegiately, reached a fever pitch.
With the ASU and UCLA women’s golf teams locked in a neck-and-neck duel approaching the 18th green at Karsten Golf Course during the final round of the PING/ASU Invitational, UCLA sophomore Stephanie Kono knew her team needed a big shot.
So Kono took extra time lining up her birdie attempt from about 35 feet away, and with the smoothest of strokes from her belly putter, Kono nailed the long offering.
The clutch shot, coupled with a double bogey on the final hole by ASU freshman Jennifer Johnson, a member of the final group with Kono, gave UCLA a one-stroke victory after an improbable comeback — the Bruins trailed ASU by 12 strokes heading into the final round.
For Johnson, who was her team’s leading scorer throughout the tournament, the 18th hole lapse was part of a devastating four-over finish on the final three holes of course.
“She’s probably sick to her stomach right now,” ASU coach Melissa Luellen said of Johnson. “You want to finish strong for your team, and she struggled on the last three holes, and it’s one of our things that we work really hard on is to finish strong.”
Johnson’s second shot on the par-four 18th landed in the rough several yards off the green. The freshman then short-armed her chip shot, leaving a lengthy putt for par.
After pushing her par putt to about four feet from the hole, Johnson faltered on the short bogey attempt.
The late struggles were hardly a reflection of Johnson’s play throughout the tournament, though, as she reached as high as second on the leaderboard before the late collapse left her in a tie for 11th at two-under, the same finish achieved by junior Jaclyn Sweeney and senior Juliana Murcia.
During the first two rounds of the event, Johnson played the final three holes of the course at three-under par.
“It’s harder when you’re on a team, because she’s taking on the weight of the team right now,” Luellen said. “She’s a great player, and she’s proven it time and time again. Every great player you can think of has had bad finishes, and it’s what they do with it that matters.”
Johnson’s teammates and members of the ASU golf community were quick to offer encouragement to the freshman, who narrowly missed what would have been the fifth top-10 finish of her rookie season.
“You’re a great player,” Sweeney told Johnson shortly after the Sun Devils accepted their runners-up trophies. “You are going to play those last three holes a million more times before your career is over.”
While the team was disappointed with a second-place finish at its home tournament for the second year in a row, the Sun Devils hope to use their performance as a learning experience with postseason play approaching.
“It’s rough, but that’s how it goes,” said Murcia, who shot a one-under 71 on Sunday. “You have to always finish strong on the last three holes, and we didn’t do that today. We didn’t play well on the last three holes last year, but then we went out and won [the Pac-10 Championship] and the [NCAA] Regionals and the [National Championship], so hopefully this will teach us something and we can do the same thing.”
Sophomore Carlota Ciganda, last year’s Pac-10 medalist, finished in a tie for 19th at even-par, and sophomore Giulia Molinaro shot 11-over to tie for 57th.
ASU will next be in action at the Pac-10 Championships, which kick off April 19 in Eugene, Ore.
Reach the reporter at nkosmide@asu.edu
