Bloomington, Ill. – The annual Kathy Niepagen Spring Fling concluded on Sunday, April 16, at Ironwood Golf Course. The two-day tournament saw the Illinois Wesleyan University women’s golf team land a third-place finish.
After leading a loaded 19-team field in the first round the weather had other plans for the Titans once Sunday rolled around.
A drastic drop of 40 degrees with winds topping 20 miles an hour on Sunday changed the course of the leaderboards.
The Titans were assigned the back nine holes as they shot 27 through the first round due to the inclement weather. Leading the Titans to a set of holes where the wind and sleet were head-on. As a team, the Titans shot a plus nine on the day bumping them down the ranks to third place.
“The teams that beat us had an easier nine holes the second day than the rest of us,” sophomore Macy Ludwig said. “They played the front holes and we played the back holes with crazy weather which was not completely fair.”
Ludwig didn’t let the setup and sleeting rain on her parade as she earned her second career win. Co-medaling with Washington University’s Sydney Kuo, the No. 1 ranked player in Division III according to GolfStat, at 146.
A two-under day with a score of 70 was the best round seen in the tournament as Ludwig shakes off her performance from two weeks ago.
“It means that the competition is very tight considering anyone could beat anyone on any given day,” Ludwig said. “ It is also cool to me that golf is never perfect, sure I did have a few hiccups but I was still able to come out on top tying with the number one ranked golfer.”
Following closely behind Ludwig was the pair of juniors Lexi Onsurd and Emma Thorman.
Onsurd landed a fourth-place finish after shooting a 73 for a 36-hole total of 149. Thorman finished tied for seventh place with a total of 151 after going five over in the second round.
The trio of Titans led to a victory over the number one ranked team Emory University in a head-to-head matchup down the stretch placing Emory in fourth place.
“Beating Emory was just more evidence that we can beat anyone,” Ludwig said. “I’m excited for the day when four of us can string together some of our most impressive rounds on the same day, if we can come close to that we can beat anyone in DIII.”
The Titans tee off on Saturday, April 22, at The Legends Golf Club in Indianapolis, Ind. The two-day Franklin Invitational will be the last stop for the Titans before traveling down to Florida for the NCAA Division III Women’s Golf Championship on Tuesday, May 9-12.