MELBOURNE, Fla. – The Penn State women's golf team turned in the third best round of the day leading to a fourth-place finish in the 14-team field at the Columbia Classic following a 5-over, 293, in the final round of the weather-shortened 36-hole event on Monday at the Duran Golf Club.
Following a day of high winds with some gusts over 40 mph that caused the cancellation of the second round on Sunday, Monday morning began with breezy and cool conditions, but nothing the Nittany Lions couldn't handle. Penn State fired the third-lowest team score of the day as only two teams were in red figures.
Texas Tech carded a 3-under score in the final round to break a two-way tie with Princeton and secure the championship at 5-under for the week, five shots clear of the Tigers who finished second at even-par. At 12-over for the week, Penn State was sandwiched in fourth between Tulsa (4-over) and Notre Dame (13-over) to round out the top-five.
Senior Taylor Waller (Canonsburg, Pa.) used a 1-under, 71, to climb 11 spots into a career-high finish in a tie for 14th at 2-over, 146, for the week. The 2-over score also matches the best finish to par in her career that she established just last week at the UCF Challenge.
"I have been working really hard these past few months to get ready for the spring season and it's paying off so far," commented Waller. "I have been focusing on staying calm and chill on the course and really just going with the flow of what each day brings."
Junior Isha Dhruva (Katy, Texas) also climbed double-digit spots on the leaderboard moving up 10 places and into a tie for 20th following an even-par, 72, in the final round. Dhurva saw the 14th hole get away from her a bit with a triple-bogey, but used great mental toughness to focus back in and play her final nine holes of the day 1-under with the blemish on 14 serving as her only crooked number of the round.
Senior classmates Mathilde Delavallade (Royan, France) and Sarah Willis carded a pair of 3-over, 75's, as Delavallade secured the ninth top-10 finish of her career in a tie for sixth position at even-par for the week just two shots out of a three-way tie for first.
Sophomores Michelle Cox (Allentown, Pa.) and Drew Nienhaus (St. Louis, Mo.) rounded out the day with scores of 3-over, 75, and 4-over, 76, respectively.
"We hung in there down the stretch and fought back strong after Notre Dame moved ahead of us in the middle of the round," mentioned head coach Denise St. Pierre. "We beat a lot of good teams this week. Taylor stayed consistent in her routines all week and really led the way today while Isha showed tremendous resilience after a rocky hole in the middle of her round."
Penn State takes this upcoming weekend off before heading west to Phoenix, Arizona to compete in the Westbrook Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin on February 26-27.
Final results available HERE.
