No. 2 ASU women’s golf notched 15 birdies and an eagle in the final round of the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, finishing fifth at the tournament in Palos Verdes, California.
The 15 birdies were part of a total of 50 collected across the three-day competition, which ranked the team second in the category behind tournament champion No. 12 Duke (54).
The Sun Devils finished seven over par with a final team score of 859. Senior Olivia Mehaffey and sophomore Alessandra Fanali both recorded an eagle for ASU, helping tie the team for first in total eagles.
Mehaffey turned in her best performance of the season, finishing tied for second place on the player leaderboard with a 208 (-5) final score.
The native of Belfast, Ireland was recently one of five amateurs selected to compete in the LPGA Tour’s ANA Inspiration event, the first major event of the Tour’s season.
Fanali and freshman Linn Grant joined Mehaffey in the top-20 for player rankings with scores of 213 (E) and 215 (+2) respectively.
ASU was particularly sharp on Palos Verdes Golf Club’s difficult par-4 holes, finishing with a scoring average of 4.05 (+9) which ranked the Sun Devils second among all teams.
A big reason for the team’s par-4 success was Mehaffey, who turned in an individual average of 3.94 (-2) to rank in the top five. She also tied for second in par-5 scoring average with a 4.44 (-5) final tally.
ASU’s birdie total was a collective effort as Fanali and Grant notched 12 apiece, and Mehaffey had 11. Mehaffey also finished with a team-high 34 pars.
The Sun Devils have finished in the top five in every tournament this season.
ASU will look to keep up the streak when the Sun Devils head to Guadalajara, Mexico to compete in the Guadalajara International Invitational starting Feb. 16.
Reach the reporter at hcroton@asu.edu or follow @thecrote on Twitter.
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