Purdue Women’s Golf in the Hunt at NCAA Championships

Weather has played havoc with the NCAA Golf Championships this weekend in suburban Chicago. It was so bad, in fact, that the second round scheduled for Saturday was cancelled entirely, cutting the event from 72 holes to 54 holes. The third round did get completed today and Purdue is in the hunt to be one of the eight teams to reach the match play finals after Monday. Also, Purdue’s August Kim is in contention for the individual title. Purdue has won both in the past.

On the team leaderboard Purdue fell two spots from 9^th to 11^th at +45 for the event, but they are one of several northern schools thriving in the conditions. Northwestern is in first place at +23, while Kent State is second at +31. Purdue is in a cluster of teams from 7^th to 14^th place that are all within seven strokes of each other. As it stands right now, Miami (FL) is holding on to the 8^th and final spot for match play at just +43, only two strokes ahead of Purdue.

Individually, Kim can join Maria Hernandez, who won individual medalist honors for Purdue in 2009, as a national champion. She was leading the field at even par after 18 holes on Friday and is now +1 for the tournament, a stroke behind Jennifer Kupcho of Wake Forest. Kim entered the tournament ranked 19^th nationally.

The final round gets underway on Monday.