Cox & Nienhaus Pace Penn State at PDI Intercollegiate
Senior classmates Michelle Cox (Allentown, Pa.) and Drew Nienhaus (St. Louis, Mo.) finished the week in red figures pacing Penn State to its lowest finish of the year with a 3-under, 861, at the PDI Intercollegiate to open the spring season. The Nittany Lions finished 11th in a stacked field of 17.
ORLANDO, Fla. – Senior classmates Michelle Cox (Allentown, Pa.) and Drew Nienhaus (St. Louis, Mo.) finished the week in red figures pacing Penn State to its lowest finish of the year with a 3-under, 861, at the PDI Intercollegiate to open the spring season. The Nittany Lions finished 11th in a stacked field of 17.
The 3-under, 861, score is tied for the sixth lowest 54-hole total in program history. Penn State opened the week with a 2-under, 286, on Sunday and after a 2-over, 290, on Monday closed out the week with a 3-under, 285, on Tuesday morning.
“I really liked the way we competed and how adaptable we were throughout the week,” stated head coach Kristen Simpson. “We stuck to our gameplan and fully committed to our process. This tournament is a great building block for the spring season.”
Baylor secured the championship with a 30-under, 834, for the week two shots clear of Duke (28-under) while North Carolina (24-under) finished third and Mississippi State and host UCF rounded out the top-5 in a tie for fourth at 23-under. The Nittany Lions were the highest finishing northern school beating out a pair of Big Ten schools in Nebraska (2-under) and Indiana (11-over).
Cox opened the tournament with her low round of the year, a 4-under, 68, and closed the week with an identical 4-under, 68, securing the first-ever bogey-free round of her career on Tuesday.
“I hit my driver really, really well all week and constantly put myself in good positions making things very stress free,” mentioned Cox. “I got some putts to drop today and had a lot of fun. It was really good to be back.”
Cox jumped 11 spots on the leaderboard in the final day and finished the week tied for 11th at 7-under, 209, the second-best score relative to par of her career and tied for the eighth-lowest in program history.
Nienhaus raced up 28 spots over the final 18 holes with a bogey-free round of her own finishing the week tied for 22nd after carding her lowest score relative to par of the year at 5-under, 211, following a 6-under, 66, on Tuesday. The score was the second-best of her career and tied for the third lowest 18-hole score in Penn State history.
“My tee shots and iron play were really dialed,” commented Nienhaus. “Coach Megan [Furtney] told me to be patient and stay calm and the birdies will come, she was the reason I was so relaxed out there and was able to hit close approach shots and follow them up by making the putts.”
Nienhaus sunk 11 birdies to Cox’s 12 including a stretch of five birdies in six holes during the opening eight holes of her third round.
“Both Michelle and Drew are incredible ball strikers, but their success this week came down to putting,” Simpson said. “They both had excellent speed control on the greens and a great feel for the breaks.”
Junior Myranda Quinton (Burlington, Ontario) and senior Jami Morris (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) each registered career-low rounds during the week as Quinton fired a 2-under, 70, during the second round and Morris carded a 1-under, 71, in the opening round on Sunday.
Quinton finished the week 6-over, 222, the lowest score relative to par for her career while Morris finished 7-over, 223, tying her lowest-score relative to par achieved at the Nittany Lion Invitational back in the fall.
Freshmen classmates Jiratchaya Jiratthitinun (Bangkok, Thailand) and Lauren Thompstone (Paris, France) rounded out the week 6-over, 222, and 9-over, 225, respectively. Thompstone’s highlight was a career-low 1-over, 73, in the opening round while Jiratthitinun carded back-to-back 75’s after opening the tournament with an even-par, 72.
Penn State has the next few weeks off before returning to action with the Westbrook Invitational hosted by Wisconsin in Peroia, Arizona on February 23-24.