HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. – Senior Drew Nienhaus (St. Louis, Mo.) paced Penn State at the B1G Championships finishing tied for 15th in the 105-player field as the Nittany Lions placed 15th in the 18-team field.
“Drew had an incredible tournament to cap off her collegiate career. She was locked in on the greens all week and handled a challenging course with poise and grit,” stated head coach Kristen Simpson.
Nienhaus entered the final round on Sunday tied for fifth, but slid a bit carding a final round 3-over, 75, after opening the week with rounds of 71 and 72, respectively. The senior finished the week 2-over, 218.
“This weekend I was very confident in my game and just knew I needed to stay in the moment and that the birdies will eventually come,” commented Nienhaus. “My lag putting combined with my iron play were really dialed which allowed me to be in good position to make birdies. I felt confident out there and knew that I had to give it my all as a senior.”
Penn State finished the week 37-over with its best round coming on Saturday with a 10-over, 298. In its first-ever B1G Championships, Oregon claimed the title finishing as the lone team under par for the week at 12-under, 14 strokes clear of Michigan State in second while Illinois (6-over), Ohio State (9-over) and Northwestern (10-over) rounded out the top-10.
Fellow senior Michelle Cox (Allentown, Pa.) carded her best round on Saturday with a 2-under, 70, to vault up the leaderboard finishing the week in a tie for 40th at 8-over, 224, with rounds of 76 and 78 in the first and third round, respectively.
Freshman Jiratchaya Jiratthitinun (Bangkok, Thailand) found her swing in the final round carding her low round of the week at 1-over, 73, to finish the week in a tie for 46th at 9-over, 225.
Junior Myranda Quinton (Burlington, Ontario) and freshman Lauren Thompstone (Paris, France) concluded the scoring at 21-over and 23-over, respectively.
“I’m so thankful for our senior class for everything they’ve done to move Penn State Women’s Golf forward,” mentioned Simpson. “We’re looking forward to building on the progress we made this year as a team.”