Sarah Thompson Wins NKU Fall Classic
* Canton native, former Plymouth HS star sets new career lows in victory.
BATAVIA, Ohio (9/13/2016) — Senior Sarah Thompson (Canton, Mich. / Plymouth) recorded her second career victory in come-from-behind fashion as she won the NKU Fall Classic on Tuesday.
Thompson posted a career-best 220 (76, 73, 71) in the event, finishing with a career-low even-par 71 on the final 18. She played her last 16 holes 2-under and was trailing by one stroke with four left to play before moving up to first place.
Sophomore Erica Heath (Detroit, Mich. / Mercy) tied for 24th with a career-low 238 (77, 83, 78), while freshman Julia Shaw (Farmington Hills, Mich. / Mercy) shared 26th with a 239 (77, 82, 80) scorecard.
As a team, the Titans ended fifth with a 935 (312, 318, 205), just one shy of fourth and seven off of third place.
Detroit Mercy will have almost two weeks to get ready for the Golden Grizzly Invite, slated for Sept. 26-27 at the Katke-Cousins Golf Course in Rochester.
Here is a summary of the action at the NKU Fall Classic
- Sarah Thompson won her second collegiate event and her first 54-hole tournament with a career-low 220. Her first win was last season at the Robert Trent Jones Challenge at the Magnolia Grove Crossings Course in Mobile, Alabama, when she won with a 153.
- She bested her previous 54-hole low by 10 shots and then tied and set her career low round with a 2-over 73 in round two and an even-par 71 on the final 18.
- Thompson led the field with 37 pars and was tied for sixth totaling six birdies. She was the top performer on the course’s Par 3’s with a -1, 2.92 average and tied for fourth on the Par 4’s with a +1, 5.11 score.
- Thompson also overcame a slow start in each round. She bogeyed and then double bogeyed her first two holes in round one and then bogeyed her first two holes in rounds two and three. If you take out those six holes, she parred or birdied 43 of the other 48 holes.
- The win was the 24th medalist under 12th-year head coach Terri Anthony-Ryan.
- Sophomore Erica Heath began the year with a career-low 238 score, 12 shots better than her previous low of 250 at last year’s Rocket Classic.
- Heath also tied her low round with a 77 on the final 18.
- Freshman Julia Shaw started her collegiate career with a 77 in the first round and ended tied for 26th with a 239. Her first collegiate action saw her knock in four birdies and 30 pars.
- Shaw tied for sixth in the field with a +1, 3.08 average on the Par 3’s and shared fifth on the Par 5’s recording a +1, 5.11 mark.
- Senior Sarah Montone (Novi, Mich. / Mercy) also set a new career best tallying a 240 (82, 80, 78) to share 28th place.
- Montone led the team and was tied for third amongst the competitors with seven birdies, four of which came in her season-opening 77 first round.
- Senior Brooke Sharpe (Kitchener, Ont. / Cameron Heights)registered four birdies and 24 pars and placed 35th posting a 243.
- As a team, Detroit Mercy put in 25 birdies for the third most in the event and 128 pars, fifth most in the tournament.
Coaches Corner With Terri Anthony-Ryan:
“I think it was a pretty good opening tournament for us. I think we showed a few of the Horizon League teams that we are much improved from the last the two seasons.”
“Sarah played with a lot of confidence. She didn’t putt the best, but she was great up and down. She was throwing darts at the pin and on her last day, maybe she missed two or three fairways at the most.”
“I was happy to see Julia rebound from a few bad holes that she ran into, but with this just her first collegiate event, she showed a lot of positives.”
“Sarah and Brooke are two seniors and both came back to play well in the final round and give us a good score.”
“Overall, I like the way we played and with the depth of this team, we will only get better as everyone will challenge each other.”
