Sitting in third place after one round at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference women’s golf championships, the Simon Fraser University women's golf team let the birdies fly in the back nine to once again soar to the top of the podium.
SFU erased an eight-shot deficit with a red-hot 294 on Tuesday to leapfrog into first place and the title – a third conference crown in four years.
The women opened with a collective 319 on the first day, trailing nationally-ranked Concordia by eight strokes and Western Washington by four. The second and final day would tell a different story.
Leading the dramatic come-from-behind win was the play of veterans Belinda Lin, Jaya Rampuri and Kylie Jack, all of whom finished in the top 10. Overall, the Clan shot a 10-over par 613, defeating Concordia by three strokes. Lin, from Surrey, put in a push for the individual title by shooting a 6-over 148 to place second, three strokes back of Lacy Sheldon of Western Washington.
As the only golfer to shoot a round under par, Lin (-2) bolted up the leaderboard on Tuesday and had birdies on three of the final four holes to clinch SFU's victory. Rampuri, meanwhile, came in third place with a sterling 2-over par after firing three consecutive birdies on holes 15 through 17. The junior from Coquitlam ended up 8-over for the tournament. Jack, of Kelowna, was not far behind with an 11-over to finish fifth.
"This is probably the best moment in program history with the comeback win and our lowest round ever. I'm really happy with how everyone grounded out in the tough conditions and then in the back nine, they just played like rock stars," remarked SFU coach Matthew Steinbach.
Sophomore Estee Leung tied for 12th, shooting 20-over par, and Laura Jones tied for 24th with a 28-over par.
In total, SFU had 15 birdies in the second round, with 10 of them coming in the back nine to give the day's end a dramatic conclusion.
With the win, the SFU earned its first-ever automatic berth into the NCAA West Region championships, which will be held in Amarillo, TX on May 6 and 8.
