ASU women’s golf looks to find form at Mason Rudolph Championship

(Photo: Sun Devil Athletics)

Coming off a disappointing 10th-place finish at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate, the Arizona State women’s golf team looks to bounce back at the Mason Rudolph Championship in Tennessee, starting Friday.

Preseason All-American sophomore Patience Rhodes led the way for the Sun Devils at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate, posting a 1-under-par tournament (76/69/70), which helped her land a tied 10th finish.

That would be the only under-par score of the weekend for the Sun Devils, as a tough third round for both freshman Johanna Axelsen and junior Beth Coulter took the Sun Devils out of being anywhere near contention on the final day.

Freshman Isla McDonald-O’Brien and junior Paula Schulz-Hanssen also turned in cards of 2-over-par and 5-over-par, respectively. This led the Sun Devils to finish 10th in a 12-team field after posting a team score of 23-over-par.

Now looking ahead to this weekend, the Mason Rudolph Championship will take place from Sept. 19-21. The field consists of 16 teams, many of which were ranked preseason by the Women’s Golf Coaches Association, including No. 14 Vanderbilt, No. 17 North Carolina and No. 21 Mississippi State.

No. 14 Vanderbilt will have the home course advantage as the Mason Rudolph Championship is held at the Vanderbilt Legends Club. So far, Vanderbilt has only played the Carmel Cup at Pebble Beach, where they placed second with a 13-over-par score. However, that is slightly misleading as they still finished 26 strokes back of the winning Texas A&M team.

No. 17 North Carolina has also only played one tournament to date, where they appeared in the Folds of Honor Collegiate. They were led by senior Megan Streicher, who posted an even-par score through all three rounds, which gave her a solo fourth-place finish; this also happened to be where the Tar Heels finished as a team.

No. 21 Mississippi State participated in the Carmel Cup at Pebble Beach alongside Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs posted a team score of 28-over-par, which landed them a tied sixth-place finish. They were led by preseason All-American junior Avery Weed, who shot a 7-under-par for the tournament, which landed her a spot tied for second on the leaderboard.

Other notable teams to mention would be Baylor, who finished tied second at the Folds of Honor Collegiate, Clemson, who won their own Tiger Classic and finished fifth at the Cougar Classic and University of Louisiana Monroe, who won the Jayhawk Classic.

With a strong field, Rhodes will need the rest of her team to step up if the Sun Devils want any chance to contend at the Mason Rudolph Championship.