JOHN'S ISLAND, S.C. – The Penn State women's golf team slid into the top-5 finishing tied for fourth at the Briar's Creek Invitational following a final round 296 (8-over) on Tuesday morning.
The Nittany Lions fired the fifth-lowest round during a windy and cold Tuesday morning at the Golf Club at Briar's Creek. Penn State finished the week 9-over (873) and tied with NC State for fourth marking the fourth top-5 finish of the season.
SMU concluded the week on top of the field at 13-under with UCF (10-under) and Maryland (3-over) rounding out the top three. Penn State beat four Big Ten teams this week finishing ahead of Illinois, Nebraska, Iowa and Rutgers.
"We beat some very good teams this week," commented head coach Denise St. Pierre. "I am proud of everyone's contributions to this strong finish."
Senior Isha Dhruva (Katy, Texas) continued her climb up the leaderboard catapulting 25 additional spots during the final round to finish tied for 18th following a 2-under, 70, on Tuesday. Dhruva, who began play on the sixth hole, was even par through her first seven holes with a pair of birdies and two bogeys on the card before finishing the day 2-under and bogey-free over her final 11 holes. In the final two rounds, Dhruva climbed a total of 50 spots up the leaderboard en route to her fourth top-20 finish of the season.
"I was keeping it in the fairway off the tee and had really solid iron play all day which put me in good positions to make birdies," mentioned Dhruva.
Sophomore Drew Nienhaus (St. Louis, Mo.) was also under par on the day firing a 1-under, 71, which included a clean front nine and a birdie on her final hole of the day. Nienhaus had just one bogey and one double over her final 29 holes dating back to yesterday's second round. The sophomore made the biggest leap out of the entire 90-player field moving up 29 spots and finishing the week tied for 32nd.
Senior's Mathilde Delavallade (Royan, France), Taylor Waller (Canonsburg, Pa.) and Sarah Willis (Eaton, Ohio) completed the team scoring with rounds of 76, 79 and 80, respectively.
Playing as an individual, sophomore Michelle Cox (Allentown, Pa.) carded a 5-over, 77.
Penn State is now off for a month before returning to action at the Lady Buckeye on April 15-16.
Complete results available HERE.
