Wooster Charges Back, Nearly Catches Frontrunning Wittenberg at Home Invite

WOOSTER, Ohio – The College of Wooster women's golf team scored the second-lowest Monday round at the program's annual Eva Shorb Weiskopf Invitational, but the Fighting Scots' quest to run down frontrunning Wittenberg University ended a stroke short at the par-72, 5,630-yard Wooster Country Club. Wooster finished the two-day tournament as the runner-up at 649 with rounds of 327 and 322. 

Seniors Melissa Burtscher and Grace Lindgren tied for fifth-place at 159. Burtscher opened with a 79 and closed with an 80, while Lindgren went 81-78. Lindgren's 78 tied her Wooster low. Burtscher's Sunday round featured six pars on the front nine, then the senior went out and played Wooster Country Club's back nine at 2-over-par, aided in large part by a birdie on the par-5, 468-yard 11th hole. On Monday, Burtscher was 3-over-par at the turn, thanks to a birdie on the par-5, 474-yard seventh hole.

Lindgren's 78 was led by birdies on the par-3, 147-yard 10th hole and the short par-4, 299-yard 17th hole. The senior had seven pars on Monday's front nine, including five straight spanning holes five through nine. On Sunday, Lindgren connected on an early birdie, with that coming on the par-4, 363-yard second hole. She also birdied holes 14 and 17 on the back nine. 

Abby Haywood's collegiate-best dipped to 81, and that vaulted the first-year up to a tie for 12th-place at 166. Haywood's tournament-opening 85 was two off a collegiate-best. In Monday's round, Haywood sank a birdie on the par-4, 341-yard 16th hole, but it was really hole 15 where Haywood started rolling, as the first-year played the final seven holes of the tournament at 1-over-par.

Junior Ally Siewert was also tied for 12th-place. Siewert opened with an 82 and followed that with an 84.  Siewert carded two birdies and 15 pars for the tournament.

First-year Morgan Erdmann rounded out Wooster's lineup and tied for 19th-place at 170. Erdmann went out at 87 and came in at 83. Erdmann's tournament started with three straight pars, and she had 10 pars over the two days on Wooster Country Club's front nine.

Junior Maddie Moran led Wooster's B team with a 183, which was the 29th-place score in the field. Moran's final-day 90 marked a new collegiate-best. Morgan's career day featured six pars, and the senior played the four par-3 holes at 1-over.

Wooster started round two 10 strokes back of Wittenberg, which finished at 648.

Westminster College's (Pennsylvania) Sierra Richard was the medalist with a 12-over-par 156. 

Wooster returns to action at the John Carroll University Fall Invitational, held October 7-8 at Manakiki Golf Course in Willoughby Hills, Ohio.