The Virginia women’s golf team shot 48-over 900 to finish eighth of 17 teams at the hyper-competitive Darius Rucker Intercollegiate two weekends ago in Hilton Head, South Carolina. The No. 16 Cavaliers steadily improved throughout the three-day, 54-hole tournament, carding a 9-over 293 in Sunday’s final round.
Sophomore Lauren Diaz-Yi — the ACC Women’s Golfer of the Month for both February and last October — paced Virginia with a 3-over 216 and a fifth-place individual finish. Diaz-Yi now has three top-10 finishes between the fall and spring.
The Cavaliers struggled in Friday’s opening round, shooting 20-over 304 to fall 19 strokes behind No. 2 Southern California and 11 strokes behind eventual champion No. 4 Duke. Junior Lauren Coughlin fired a 1-over 72 to lead Virginia through 18 holes, while Diaz-Yi came in right behind her at 2-over 73.
Stuck near the bottom of a stacked field — six of the nation’s current top-10 teams competed at the Long Cove Club — Virginia shot 19-over 303 to slide into 14th place heading into the final round. Diaz-Yi matched her score from Friday to move into ninth on the individual leaderboard.
The Cavaliers posted their best single-round score of the tournament Sunday to conclude the tournament one stroke ahead of No. 7 Arkansas and 42 strokes back of the Blue Devils, who won the event for the second year in a row.
Coughlin placed 30th overall at 12-over 225, while junior Elizabeth Szokol finished 39th at 13-over 226. Senior Briana Mao and freshman Maho Hayakawa placed 70th and 81st, respectively. Freshman Lyberty Anderson — who competed as a non-scoring individual — placed 66th.
Duke freshman Leona Maguire and LSU senior Madelene Sagstrom took home co-medalist honors at 6-under 213.
Virginia competes at the Bryan National Collegiate in Brown Summit, North Carolina April 3-5.
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