Ohio State
NCAA Championships
Rio Watanabe Ties for 16th at the NCAA Championships – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/23/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
May 23, 2016
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EUGENE, Ore. — Rio Watanabe concluded the 2016 NCAA Women’s Golf Championships tied for 16th out of 132 players. She becomes the fourth Buckeye to earn a Top-20 NCAA showing in the last five years, including teammate Katja Pogacar’s identical T-16th effort in the 2014 nationals.
“I’m proud of myself and the improvements I’ve made from freshman year to last year to this year,” Watanabe said. “I’ve grown a lot and saw a different side of myself this week. That’s what excites me most for next season and the possibilities of what I could do.”
“The team started off the year slow, but we kept going like a turtle and at the end we saw a result worthy of all the work put it. We made a really big push at the end, winning the Big Tens, and accomplished some great things. We took the proper steps to get where we were, competing at the NCAA Championships.”
Watanabe birdied the third hole of her opening round and never crept above par throughout the entire 72-hole tournament. The redshirt sophomore shot even par overall, posting a weekly total of 288 (70-68-78-72). She racked up 18 birdies, ranking second in the event. Watanabe made big moves on Par 5’s, recording a 7-under Par-5 aggregate score (tied for fifth overall).
Watanabe’s run to the Top-20 included a stretch of 21 consecutive bogey-holes spanning Rounds 1-2. She registered four birdies and 17 pars during the hot streak. Her first hole of worse than bogey didn’t come until the 37th hole of the tournament, avoiding `blow-up’ holes to keep herself in contention.
VIDEO: 2016 NCAA Championships Highlights#GoBucks https://t.co/oHwQHayLoY
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