CARLSBAD, Calif. – On a breezy afternoon, Vanderbilt women’s golf ended the third round with a 14-over-par 302 to conclude its season with a 20th-place finish at the NCAA Championships. The finish marks the highest for the Commodores since 2014.
Vanderbilt finished the weekend at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa North Course with a 33-over 897. Senior Virginie Ding and sophomore Tillie Claggett led the Dores with weekend totals of 6-over 222.
“I thought we put up a heck of a fight today and we had some good looks at birdie coming down the stretch that unfortunately didn’t fall,” said head coach Greg Allen. “But I’m proud of the effort our girls showed today. They represented Vanderbilt in a first-class manner, like they always do.”
Sunday’s third round proved especially challenging as the wind picked up on the California coast. Only two of the 30 teams competing finished at or below par. The Dores climbed the leaderboard for a second straight day but fell eight strokes short of the cut line.
Claggett posted the Commodores’ low round of the day with a 1-over 73. Freshman Ava Merrill finished one stroke behind with a 2-over 74 on Sunday. Graduate student Celina Sattelkau carded a 5-over 77 in her final round as a Commodore while Ding finished her career with a 6-over 78. Sophomore Lynn Lim rounded out the day with an 80 in the third round.
“I’m very grateful to our seniors for everything they did for this program and our university,” said Allen. “Celina and Ding have left their mark and made us better. Their futures are very bright. I’m pumped for the future we have with Tillie, Lynn, Ava and Sara. The experience they gained this week will definitely help us when we get back here next year.
“I’m also proud of the job coach Wang did for us the past two weeks,” Allen continued. “With coach Meason expecting her second boy any day now, coach Wang really did a great job for us stepping in during her absence.”
The trip to the NCAA Championships marked the third-consecutive season the Dores have concluded play on the final weekend. It’s the first time Vanderbilt women’s golf has made back-to-back-to-back NCAA Championships in a decade, when the Dores made a program-best five-straight appearances from 2010-14.
Vanderbilt ends the season with a pair of tournament wins at the Mason Rudolph Championship and the Clemson Invitational. The Dores produced seven top-5 finishes in nine traditional events.
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