Feb. 25, 2013
PEORIA, Ariz. - SooBin Kim finished tied for second among individuals and the ninth-ranked Husky women's golf team ended up third in the Westbrook Invitational that wrapped up Monday in Peoria, Ariz. Kim, a sophomore who calls Donghae, South Korea and Coquitlam, B.C. home, shot 210 (-6) overall to finish two strokes behind Arkansas' Gabriela Lopez. Kim entered the final round at Westbrook Golf Course tied with Lopez for the lead and shot a solid 4-under 68, but Lopez fired an even more impressive bogey-free 66 to win. Kim scored bogey on the third hole on Monday, but went bogey-free over the final 15 holes. She made five birdies during the round. Besides Kim's round, the Huskies leaned heavily on the play of freshman Charlotte Thomas. Thomas notched her fifth top-10 finish in seven events this year. She shot 2-under 214 to claim fifth.
"SooBin and Charlotte, they just get it done no matter what," said Mulflur. "To both of their credit, they came back today (from over-par starts to their rounds)." Thomas was three-over after six holes, thanks to a double-bogey and bogey on No.'s 5 and 6, but went bogey-free the rest of the way. She birdied No.'s 7 and 8 to close the front nine at 1-over. Thomas added three more birdies on the back nine to shoot 70. "A lot of people, you get 3-over that early you kind of lose focus," Mulflur said. "For Charlotte, it seems to focus her even more. "She really has that ability to bounce back." Arkansas and Washington both had three players finish in the top-10 but it was Texas Tech that that walked home with the team title. The Red Raiders were the only team under par at -2 (862), thanks mostly to an 11-under 277 in the today's final round. Arkansas finished five strokes behind Texas Tech at 3-over 867. The Huskies shot 10-over 874. Mississippi State and Indiana tied for fourth in the field, 19 shots back of the Huskies. "We just couldn't get things going," Husky Coach Mary Lou Mulflur said of her team's round of 1-over 289. "It's not like we played bad, we just didn't play good enough." Cyd Okino entered Monday tied for fourth at even par but shot 4-over 76 to fall out of title contention. She still hung on to a ninth-place finish in the tournament. Jennifer Yang shot 3-over 75 and ended up 15-over after 54 holes. She tied for 42nd. Redshirt-freshman Monica Huang tied for 58th in her first team tournament. She closed with a 78. Washington has now finished ninth, fourth and third in three spring competitions after finishing no worse than second in four fall tournaments. The Huskies get back at it quickly, playing this upcoming weekend at the Juli Inkster Invitational in San Jose, Calif. from March 3-4.
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