By GREG GIAUQUE
After only her fourth tournament as a collegiate golfer, BYU freshman Carrie Summerhays returned home Thursday with her third top-10 finish of the young season.
By shooting a consistent 74-73-73–220, she lead the Cougars (912) in an 11th-place finish at the Princeville Fall Classic in Princeville, Hawaii.
Oklahoma State (875) ran away with the team title finishing nine strokes ahead of second-place Oregon State (884). Oregon State outdistanced third-place UCLA (893) by another nine strokes while Ohio State (898) and San Diego State (902) rounded out the top five.
Angie Yoon of Nevada shot a 73-68-71–212 to finish 4-under-par and claim the individual title. Kathleen Takaishi from Oregon State was a close second at 3-under-par 213. Summerhays finished seven strokes further back, but tied for 10th in setting a 54-hole personal record.
Summerhays said she had no secrets about how she has managed to place in the top 15 at all four of her collegiate tournaments. She said her approach to the 27-holes-per-day format in Hawaii may have been a part of it.
“I tried to play it as three nines instead of one 27. It was easier for me to concentrate that way,” Summerhays said. “One of the days I had two birdies in a row and I hit a par 5 real well. I made some good shots and … came really close on some putts.”
Among BYU golfers, Nicole Parry chipped nine strokes off her first-round score and continued solid play into the second day finishing 37th with a 82-73-76–231. Senior Jaime Stevenson tied with Summer Fenstermaker for 42nd, both carding 3-round totals of 232. Jessica Gardner was eight more strokes behind the pace at 240.
BYU head coach Gary Howard said the team’s four personal records and a team round under 300 was promising. He was also quick to point out that there is room for improvement.
“We feel good about the way we are playing our par 3s. That’s where we’re stronger at,” Howard said. “Where we’re weaker is the par 5s. If we manage our par 5s like we should, we should be in contention with (seventh place) California.”
Nicole Parry set two personal records by carding a low-round 73 and a 54-hole total 231. She said keeping a positive attitude helped her come back from a shaky first 18.
“I really wasn’t disappointed about the (first round) 82. I was swinging well and placing well and knew it would come around,” Parry said. “But I really kept a positive attitude … and I had a good second day. We all finished pretty strong.”
Parry also attributed part of her solid play to a little help from her teammates. With two holes to play and facing a difficult water hole, Parry said Fenstermaker helped inspire her through to the end. Parry ended up bogeying the water hole, but chipped in for birdie on the last hole.
The BYU men’s and women’s golf teams leave Sunday afternoon for St. George to finish up their fall season at the Utah Shootout scheduled for Nov. 10-11.
