May 24, 2002
AUBURN, Wash. - The Purdue women's golf team finished in 16th place at the 2002 NCAA Women's Golf Championships in Auburn, Wash.
The Boilermakers fired a final-round 301. They opened the event with a first-round 304, carded a 300 on Wednesday and fired a third-round 297. They finished with a four-day total of 1,198. Purdue was in 18th place after the first round. It improved to 15th after two rounds and 14th after the third day. Duke was crowned national champions with a four-day total of 1164.
"We obviously we would have liked to have played better," said coach Devon Brouse. "Overall we didn't play too bad but we didn't seem able to get four low scores on the same day and that's what you need to move up the leaderboard."
Junior Heather Zielinski was the top-placing Boilermakers. She carded a final-round 73 and tied for 27th with a three-day total of 295 (+7). Zielinski played the final round at one-over par. She was one under on the front nine.
Senior Caroline Laurens tied for 31st overall. She fired a final-round 77 and had a four-day total of 296. She carded the lowest round of the tournament for the Boilermakers with a third-round 70.
Junior Kari Damron fired a three-over 75 on Friday and tied for 45th with a 298. She recorded one of three under-par rounds for the Boilermakers with a second-round 71 on Wednesday.
Senior Christy Rittenhouse notched a 76 on Friday and tied for 107th with a total of 312 over the four days.
Sophomore Beth Hermes tied for 109th. She carded a final-round 79 and totaled 313 over the four days.
"This has been a successful season and we always wish you could have done better," said Brouse. "I like how we hung in there for the entire four days and really battled. We tried to make a move on the second and third day but were unable to make up the kind of ground we wanted."
The Boilermakers were the second-highest placing Big Ten team. Ohio State finished eighth, Michigan placed 17th and Michigan State finished 19th.
This was the third-straight season that the Boilermakers advanced to the NCAA Championships. They finished 20th at the 2001 NCAA Championships.
The event was held at the 6,273-yard, par-72 Washington National Golf Club. Purdue University will host the 2003 NCAA Women's Golf Championships from May 20 to 23 at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex's Kampen Course.
Place Individual 1st Rd. 2nd Rd. 3rd Rd. 4th Rd. Total T-27 Heather Zielinski 74 71 77 73 295 +7T-31 Caroline Laurens 74 75 70 77 296 +8T-45 Kari Damron 78 71 74 75 298 +10T-107 Christy Rittenhouse 78 80 78 76 312 +24T-109 Beth Hermes 79 79 76 79 313 +25
Place Team 1st Rd. 2nd Rd. 3rd Rd. 4th Rd. Total 1st Duke 294 293 290 287 1164 +122nd Auburn 298 300 285 287 1170 +18 Arizona 285 296 293 296 1170 +18 Texas 305 286 285 294 1170 +185th Georgia 294 294 296 292 1176 +246th Florida 298 291 295 295 1179 +27 Oklahoma 299 289 301 290 1179 +278th Ohio State 299 292 296 293 1180 +289th Arizona State 301 292 292 301 1186 +34 Pepperdine 301 294 297 294 1186 +3411th Stanford 299 295 295 298 1187 +3512th Tulsa 302 297 296 293 1188 +3613th Oklahoma State 299 303 297 290 1189 +3714th USC 307 294 298 293 1192 +4015th California 298 303 292 300 1193 +4116th Purdue 304 296 297 301 1198 +4617th Michigan 301 299 299 300 1199 +4718th Vanderbilt 311 296 296 298 1201 +4919th Michigan State 305 297 311 289 1202 +5020th Washington 302 297 305 299 1203 +5121st UCLA 314 297 298 295 1204 +5222nd Wake Forest 298 305 302 301 1206 +5423rd South Carolina 298 298 308 313 1217 +6524th South Florida 313 322 323 313 1271 +119