Ohio State
Big Ten Championships
BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK! Buckeyes Capture Third Straight Big Ten Title – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
April 24, 2016
RELATED INFO
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State University women’s golf program captured its third straight Big Ten title, sharing the 2016 co-championship with Northwestern. Ohio State stormed back from ninth place after Day One and finished with a flurry to earn a conference-best 14th B1G crown since 1982 (next closest is Indiana with seven titles).
Ohio State and Northwestern shaved 11 strokes off last season’s 863 winning score, contested on the same course and also won by the Buckeyes and Wildcats, accumulating 54-hole totals of 852 (-12) in 2016. This latest championship marks the 101st tournament team crown in OSU history and the 46th under the direction of Hall of Fame head coach Therese Hession (class of 2015), including seven of the last 15 B1G Championships.
*Big Ten Network will provide tape-delayed coverage of the Big Ten Women’s Golf Championships on Sunday, May 1 at 11 a.m. ET.
The Buckeyes were victorious at four straight conference tournaments from 1978-81 as well, but the conference office doesn’t officially recognize titles prior to 1982.
Ohio State carded the best round of the entire tournament on Sunday, closing out the comeback with a 280 (-8) final round. Katja Pogacar led the final round charge firing a 5-under 67 to climb eight slots on the individual leaderboard up into a runner-up finish. Rio Watanabe joined her in the 60s, posting a 2-under 69 while Jessica Porvasnik also dipped below par at 71.
Pogacar inflicted much of her scorecard carnage on the Par 3’s. She paced all players with a 4-under aggregate Par-3 ledger. At 8-under overall, she earned runner-up honors once again, tying for second in the 2015 B1G competition. Pogacar excelled throughout, sandwiching an even-par 72 in round number two with scores in the 60s to start and finish the weekend (69-72-67). Porvasnik continued her stellar career at the conference championships, registering her third B1G top-10 showing in a tie for seventh place. Her consistency reigned supreme, running off tallies of 71-70-71 (-4).
Rio Watanabe was a three-time contributor to the team score as well, recording rounds of 75-70-69. She earned a share of 12th place overall at 2-under. Niki Schroeder mimicked Watanabe in rebounding from Round One. Schroeder began the event with a 77 in the first before killing it in Round Two at 69 and concluding the weekend with a 73. In total, she shot 3-over to notch a top-25 effort.
Jaclyn Lee and Zoe-Beth Brake each chipped in rounds to the Buckeye championship, too. Lee’s opening round 76 counted while Brake came through with a clutch 73 to close it out.
BUCKEYE RESULTS
T-1st – Team 291-281-280—852 (-12)
2nd – Katja Pogacar 69-72-67—208 (-8)
T-7th – Jessica Porvasnik 71-70-71—212 (-4)
T-12th – Rio Watanabe 75-70-69—214 (-2)
T-25th – Niki Schroeder 77-69-73—219 (+3)
T-50th – Jaclyn Lee 76-74-75—225 (+9)
T-65th – Zoe-Beth Brake 79-76-73—228 (+12)
The NCAA Women’s Golf Selection Show airs live on Golf Channel; Monday, April 25 at 6 pm ET. Seventy-two teams will be sent to four Regional sites across the country.
