March 5, 2013
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Washington earned its fifth tournament finish of second or better this season and all five Huskies ended up among the top-23 individuals in the Juli Inkster Invitational that completed on Tuesday. The No. 9 Huskies ended up shooting 889 (+25) to finish second, 11 shots behind tourney champion Stanford. Washington edged third-place California and North Carolina State by two strokes. "We had the best round in the afternoon yesterday and the second-best round in the field today," Husky Coach Mary Lou Mulflur said after her team combined to shoot 11-over 299 in the final round. "It kind of makes you think back about what you left on the table after the first round." Mulflur's team shot 300 in yesterday's morning round, which would have been a good score in today's windy condition at Almaden Country Club. But on Monday it left the Huskies tied for seventh and working hard to climb out of a hole.
"Overall, we weren't as sharp as we could have been," said Mulflur, "but it was good to see different girls step up at different times." Freshman Charlotte Thomas paved the way for the Huskies. She ended up tied for fifth after scoring 221 (+5) in the two-day, 54-hole tournament. Thomas needed two birdies during the final three-hole stretch to shoot 75 for the day at the 6,180-yard, par-72 course. The first-year player, who honed her skills in England, Hong Kong and New Zealand, has recorded top-10 finishes in six of eight tournaments. "Again, Charlotte just grinded it out. She goes 2-under over the final three holes and kind of saves her round a little bit," said Mulflur. SooBin Kim also recorded her sixth top-10 finish of the year. The sophomore ended up one stroke back of Thomas and tied for 9th. Kim shot 2-over 74 on Tuesday. Ying Luo was third among Huskies with an 11th-place finish. The walk-on freshman from China shot 1-over 73. Her score tied for the fourth best of the day among 73 competitors. Cyd Okino and Jennifer Yang tied for 23rd after shooting 228 (+12). Okino shot a final-round 77, while Yang shot 81. Yang had to count a two-stroke penalty on the first hole after noticing she was one club over the bag limit. Stanford's Mariah Stackhouse continued her stellar play that saw her earn Pac-12 Golfer of the Month for February by winning the tournament at 4-under. She won by six shots over San Jose State's Regina DeGuzman. The Huskies have just two remaining tournaments before the Pac-12 championships start. They are off until March 25 when they will spend their spring break in Hawai'i competing in the Maui Classic.
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