EUGENE, Ore. - Purdue junior August Kim wrapped up a solid performance at the 2016 NCAA Women's Golf Championships on Monday, posting a three-over, 75, to finish three-over, 291, for the tournament and tie for 32nd place at Eugene Country Club. Kim completes an outstanding season for the Old Golf and Black in which she won a Big Ten Championship, earned WGCA All-Region honors and competed in her second career national championship.
Kim got off to a tough start Monday, making bogeys on No. 3 and No. 5 to go to two-over par, but rebounded on No. 6 and No. 7 with back-to-back birdies to fight her way back to even. The struggles returned with three straight bogeys at the turn, taking extra strokes on the ninth, 10th and 11th holes, but once again she battled back with a birdie, dropping in a three on the par-four, 12th. Kim was solid the rest of the way, but couldn't come up with any more birdies, making one last bogey on No. 15 and finishing the round at three-over par.
The 72-hole event was the second of Kim's collegiate career, following last year's NCAA Championships, and she improved her score by 23 strokes and placement by 28 spots against the national field. Her first-round 68 is tied for the second-best score by a Boilermaker at the national tournament in program history, matching Christel Boeljon's fourth-round 68 at the 2008 NCAA Championship and following Maude-Aimee LeBlanc's opening-round 67 at the 2010 NCAA Championship. Kim's 72-hole mark matches the 12th-best score in program history and is the eighth-best score by a Boilermaker at the NCAA Championships.
Duke freshman Virginia Elena Carta ran away with the NCAA individual crown, posting an outstanding 72-hole score of 16-under, 272, and beating the second-place finisher by an impressive eight strokes. UCLA had the best 72-hole team score in stroke play, finishing at seven-under, 1145, and leads the eight-team field advancing to match play tomorrow. Following the Bruins is Stanford, USC, Washington, Virginia, Duke, South Carolina and Oregon.