» Elodie Van Dievoet used three straight sub-par rounds to post a career-best and U-M Big Ten Championships record 210 (-6) to win the program’s first Big Ten individual title.
» Final-round 70s (-2) from Elodie Van Dievoet and Alisa Snyder helped Michigan rally in the final round with a 293 team total and finish fifth at the 2017 Big Ten Championships with an 892 54-hole total.
» In her first Big Ten Championships, Alisa Snyder used her first career sub-par round to fire a career-best 70 (-2) to rally and earn a top-25 finish, closing 24th at 227 (75-82-70).
» The Wolverines will now tune into the Golf Channel on Thursday (April 27) to learn their NCAA regional fate with a live selection show at 11 a.m.
Site: Maineville, Ohio
Course: TPC River’s Bend (par 72, 6,319 yards)
Tournament: Big Ten Championships
U-M Team Standing: 5th Place of 14 Teams (295-304-293/892)
Top U-M Individual: Elodie Van Dievoet, 1st (69-71-70/210, -6)
Next U-M Event: Thursday, April 27 — NCAA Selection Show (Golf Channel), 11 a.m.
MAINEVILLE, Ohio — With a three straight sub-par round, University of Michigan women’s golf sophomore Elodie Van Dievoet won the program’s first Big Ten individual title, tallying a career-best and U-M conference tournament record 210 (-6) 54-hole total today (Sunday, April 23) at the 2017 Big Ten Championships held at the TPC River’s Bend. The Wolverines closed fifth as a team with an 892 team total.
After opening with her fifth sub-70 round of the season, Van Dievoet’s 69 (-3) put her atop the leaderboard after Friday’s (April 21) first round. Following with a 71 (-1), she slipped a position to second after Saturday’s (April 22) second round as Michigan State’s Sarah Burnham vaulted to the individual lead with a Big Ten-record 63 (-9).
Trailing by four shots going into today’s final round, Van Dievoet made her opening turn even par as an early bogey on No. 2 was erased with a birdie on No. 7. With back-to-back birdies on Nos. 10 and 11 to start her back nine, she drew even with Burnham, who went three over through 10 holes.
After a bogey on No. 15, Van Dievoet remained tied with Burnham, who bogeyed No. 14. Van Dievoet’s third backside birdie of the day gave her a 70 (-2) and one shot lead. With Burham parring out her four remaining holes, she closed with a 75 (+3), and Van Dievoet watched from the 18th green as she won the program’s first-ever Big Ten Individual title with a 210 (-6).
“It means a lot to win especially against such a good field and where someone shot minus nine yesterday,” said Van Dievoet. “It is a pretty fun first college win and reward for the work that is done during the year.
“I did not expect to win going into the last day,” she added. “On the course I was just trying to have fun, hit some good shots and try to make the putts where I could and not worrying to much about my score.”
Van Dievoet’s 210 (-6) total set a new career best by a single shot and smashed the program’s conference tournament record of 215 set last year by Grace Choi.
“Elodie had an awesome tournament,” said U-M head coach Jan Dowling. “She has come close many times this spring and has wanted a win so badly. The course suites her well. It played long, and you had to hit high soft shots into the greens to get the ball close. The whole team is so proud of her and an accomplishment for our history books.”
“I played pretty good during the hole tournament but especially the second round where my all striking was great,” said Van Dievoet. “Overall, I hit a lot of fairways during the tournament which helped me to have easier shots into the tricky pins positions. I stayed patient in the wind and waited for the putts to fall and that definitely helped me a lot during the three rounds.”
With Van Dievoet’s performance and a team rally in the final round, the Wolverines posted their 10th top-five finish as the conference event, finishing fifth with an 892 total. After a 295 opening tally, U-M was third after the first round but slipped to fifth with a 304 in the second. With 70s from Van Dievoet and freshman Alisa Snyder, the Maize and Blue rallied with a 293 but stayed in the fifth spot.
“We had a better round together as a team today and scored our best round,” said Dowling. “We still didn’t quite handle the tough shots the way we would have liked and will work hard to put ourselves into some pressure situations in practice leading up to regionals.”
Snyder’s final-round performance helped her post a top-25 finish in her first conference event. In fact, after finishing tied for 30th three times this season, she finally snapped that streak with a career-best 24th place finish at 227 (75-82-70).
Choi gave the Wolverines three among the top 25 as she closed out her Big Ten career tying for 25th at 228 (76-76-76). Rounding out the Wolverines starting six were juniors Megan Kim (75-81-77) and Emily White (78-76-79) tying for 43rd at 233, while fellow junior Kathy Lim was 58th at 239 (78-83-78).
The Wolverines will now tune into the Golf Channel on Thursday (April 27) to learn their NCAA regional fate with a live selection show at 11 a.m. U-M has an opportunity to earn its second straight team selection and 12th overall NCAA appearance in program history. There are four NCAA regional sites — Ohio State, East Carolina, Texas Tech and New Mexico — being played Monday through Wednesday (May 8-10).
Final Team Standings
1. Michigan State 298-283-285 = 866 (+2)
2. Northwestern 288-285-295 = 868
3. Ohio State 296-294-287 = 877
4. Wisconsin 291-306-287 = 884
5. MICHIGAN 295-304-293 = 892
6. Purdue 299-303-299 = 901
7. Illinois 304-303-301 = 908
8. Minnesota 311-298-302 = 911
9. Maryland 313-304-296 = 913
10. Iowa 312-311-308 = 931
11. Penn State 306-309-319 = 934
12. Nebraska 311-319-314 = 944
13. Indiana 318-308-320 = 946
14. Rutgers 316-316-316 = 948
Top Individuals
1. ELODIE VAN DIEVOET, U-M 69-71-70 = 210 (-6)
2. Sarah Burnham, Michigan State 73-63-75 = 211
3. Emie Peronnin, Minnesota 70-70-72 = 212
4. Allyson Geer, Michigan State 73-73-70 = 216
5. Stephanie Lau, Northwestern 71-76-71 = 218
Katie Sharp, Michigan State 75-72-71 = 218
Jaclyn Lee, Ohio State 72-70-76 = 218
8. Becky Klongland, Wisconsin 72-73-74 = 219
August Kim, Purdue 75-74-70 = 219
Kacie Komoto, Northwestern 78-71-70 = 219
Other Michigan Individuals
24. Alisa Snyder 75-82-70 = 227
T25. Grace Choi 76-76-76 = 228
T43. Megan Kim 75-81-77 = 233
T43. Emily White 78-76-79 = 233
58. Kathy Lim 78-83-78 = 239
