In their lone home invitational, the ASU women’s golf team started strong and finished on a tear, placing second with a plus-17 score of 869.
In the PING/ASU Invitational, the Sun Devils sandwiched a poor middle round with an exceptional first round and a stout final round while battling frequent winds.
After the first round, ASU led the 17-team field behind career-best rounds of 67 from sophomore Justine Lee and 69 by sophomore Laura Blanco.
Senior Giulia Molinaro also made a crafty chip-in birdie on the seventh hole from a deep grass bunker.
The Sun Devils collectively shot four-under during the first round and led No. 1 UCLA by four strokes.
Lee found herself tied atop the leaderboard after the impressive first day.
However, the four-under round was likely an anomaly, as Lee did not respond well to entering the second day in first place.
Day two saw Lee and Blanco revert closer to their career norms. Lee shot 10 strokes higher in the second round and Blanco six.
ASU shot plus-14 on the second day, pinning them in fourth place entering the final day.
The 10th hole hampered ASU during the second round. Three of the five Sun Devils competing double bogeyed the hole in that round.
ASU bounced back from its poor day two performance to shoot a plus-seven round on Sunday, which led the field that day.
ASU coach Melissa Luellen was pleased with the team’s overall performance.
“After a disappointing day (Saturday), I was really proud of how well they fought back and played (in the final round),” Luellen said.
During round three, the winds consistently blew upward of 15 mph, forcing higher scores from almost everyone — except for Molinaro.
After starting the final day tied for 33rd out of 90 players, Molinaro soared through the individual leaderboard, finishing in seventh with a plus-two aggregate score.
She sank four birdies in her first five holes in the third round and shot a 68. Molinaro tied for best among players that day.
Luellen said ASU finally figured out holes 16 and 18. Both holes contain significant bodies of water directly next to the green and fairway.
“The way we played (holes) 16 and 18 were probably the best we’ve ever played the holes,” Luellen said. “(Hole) 16 has always been our nemesis.”
Lee finished one spot outside the top 10 with a plus-four score. Blanco finished with a plus-six and placed 19th overall.
Freshman Noemi Jimenez shot plus-12 and sophomore Daniela Ordonez hit a plus-16. Freshman Emilie Alonso, competing as an individual, finished plus-16 as well.
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