Wooster Keeps Rolling, Breaking Records at Polar Beaver Classic

HARROD, Ohio – One of the best rounds in College of Wooster women's golf history was recorded on Friday, the Fighting Scots went a collective 3-under-par on a hole, and another program record was broken by the team at the Polar Beaver Classic. Wooster finished the co-Bluffton University and Ohio Northern University-hosted tournament tied for second-place out of 14 teams.

Grace Lindgren played her best collegiate golf on Friday, carding a 2-over-par 74 at the par-72, 5,602-yard Hidden Creek Golf Club. Lindgren's birdie on the par-4, 360-yard 13th hole was a sign of things to come, as the senior turned that start into a 1-under-par showing over her final 15 holes. The senior's run of pars extended to seven when she got up-and-down and rattled home the par putt on the par-3, 135-yard second hole. A second birdie on the day came at the par-5, 445-yard fourth hole, and Lindgren sank an eagle approach on the par-5, 428-yard eighth hole for the fifth competition eagle in program history. Lindgren's 74 marked a collegiate-best by four strokes and it is tied for the third-lowest round in program history. The senior's 160 for the tournament was the sixth-place score.

Melissa Burtscher's smart playing on Saturday enabled the senior to emerge from a six-way tie for most top-five finishes in a season with a sixth. Burtscher closed with a 78 at the par-72, 6,215-yard Colonial Golfers Club, which was tied for the second-lowest score in the field. Burtscher, who finished fifth at 159, got rolling on the par-4, 301-yard third hole with the first of six consecutive pars. Burtscher pared six holes on the back nine, including the final three. She played Saturday's par-three holes at even par.

Junior Ally Siewert's 167 was tied for 18th-place. Siewert's highlights included a birdie at the par-4, 365-yard 12th hole at Hidden Creek on Friday, four consecutive pars to start play Saturday at Colonial, and playing Colonial's four par-three holes at 1-over-par.

First-year Morgan Erdmann went 85-84 for a 169. Erdmann tied for 23rd-place. Erdmann rolled in a birdie on the par-4, 308-yard 17th hole at Hidden Creek on Friday and had two three-hole stretches of pars after turning to the front nine. Saturday's highlights included a birdie on the par-3, 169-yard fourth hole at Colonial and a three-hole stretch of pars just before the turn.

First-year Abby Haywood factored heavily into the runner-up team finish with an 83 on Friday. Haywood went on to tie for 31st-place at 172. Haywood followed Erdmann's lead with a birdie on No. 4 and played 14 holes at par or better on the weekend, including a strong closing run of four in a five-hole stretch at the end of Friday's round.

Notable, all five Wooster players shot par or better on the eighth hole at Hidden Creek on Friday. Lindgren's eagle was backed up by Burtscher's birdie, giving the team a 3-under-par tally for the hole.

Ohio Northern won the tournament, with the Polar Bears' 644 besting the Scots', Saint Mary's College's (Indiana), and Mount Saint Joseph College's 653s. Of note, Wooster now has seven straight top-two finishes, and the 14-team field matched the largest the program has been part of this academic year.

Mount St. Joseph's Alyssa Haverstraw was the medalist at 154.

Next, Wooster's off to Marietta College's Pioneer Classic, which takes place April 13-14 at Marietta Country Club.