Coming off a moderately successful fall, the women’s golf team gears up for a challenging spring season. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Dept. of Athletics
Ohio State was coming off a 14th-place finish in its last tournament, looking to improve in the Ironwood Invitational. By the end of the outing, the Buckeyes did just that.
Ohio State placed seventh of 13 teams at the Ironwood Invitational at the Ironwood Golf & Country Club in Greenville, North Carolina, Monday and Tuesday. The Buckeyes led the field in eagles with three on their way to their second top-10 finish of the spring.
Head coach Lisa Strom said although the team improved since the last tournament, there is still work to be done.
“We’re kind of working through that and trying to get people in the right framework and right mindset to either start a little bit quicker or finish a little bit stronger,” Strom said. “I think we certainly haven’t seen all that stuff yet.”
Ohio State shot 32 birdies during the tournament, finishing 16-over 880 — 16 strokes behind the winning team: the College of Charleston.
The Buckeyes struggled in the first round Monday, having their lowest-scoring round of the tournament and shooting 9-over 297 — good for eighth through 18 holes.
Ohio State bounced back in the second round later that day, gaining five strokes with a score of 4-over 292 and moving up to the No. 6 spot.
Ohio State had its best round of golf in the final round. However, the Buckeyes moved back one spot, despite strong individual rounds for junior Alexis Phadungmartvorakul and freshman Faith Choi, in which they moved up 14 and 26 spots, respectively.
Choi hit three birdies and a hole-in-one eagle on the final front-nine of the tournament. She said she was glad to shoot the hole-in-one with support from her fellow Buckeye golfers, including senior Aneka Seumanutafa, who Choi said ran to give her a hug following the eagle.
“It was really special to go make a hole-in-one in a college event,” Choi said. “It made it really special to have my teammates out there.”
Choi finished tied for No. 23 individually to help the Buckeyes secure their seventh-place finish.
Ohio State comes home for its next tournament — the Lady Buckeye Invitational on the Scarlet course at the Ohio State University Golf Club April 15-16.
The last time this event was played was in the spring of 2019 due to the pandemic. Strom said with it being such a long time, she is especially looking forward to this year’s tournament at Ohio State.
“Just to be able to compete at home on Scarlet and in front of, hopefully, some families and friends that can make it, it’s always special,” Strom said.
