Lohbauer Leads WCU Women’s Golf to Sixth at RiverTowne
Sophomore Elizabeth Lohbauer advanced 17 spots in the final individual standings on Tuesday to pace Western Carolina’s climb into sixth place as play concluded at the RiverTowne Invitational, hosted by Charleston Southern at the par-72, 6,107-yard RiverTowne Country Club.
WCU’s sixth-place showing was its sixth Top 10 finish to start the 2022-23 season, though it was its first finish off of the final podium as a squad.
Tied for 24th after 36 holes, Lohbauer posted her tournament-best round of 2-under par 70 on Tuesday to finish the event at even-par, 216. The Venice, Fla., product overcame a double-bogey on her first hole of the day on the par-3 eighth. Three holes later, she was back to even-par after consecutive birdies on the 10th and 11th.
Lohbauer came home with eight pars and countered two bogeys with four additional birdies for the 2-under round. She finished the tournament tied for fifth with a team-best 10 total birdies.
Senior Victoria Ladd knocked three strokes off her second-round score to shoot 3-over par 75, moving up five positions in the final standings at 223. The Greensboro, N.C., native countered four bogeys with a birdie on the par-3 17th. She posted 38 pars, tied for ninth among the tournament field.
Freshman Brie Mapanao improved by six spots on Tuesday to finish tied for 45th with a three-round score of 226. Much like Ladd, Mapanao had four bogeys with a birdie, shooting 1-under on the par-5 16th. She finished the tournament tied for second with 41 total pars
Rounding out WCU’s scoring five were fifth-year senior Madison Isaacson in a tie for 55th (229) and redshirt freshman Kayleigh Baker in a tie for 63rd (231). Isaacson matched her second round with three birdies on Tuesday. Baker charted a birdie on the 53rd hole of her tournament to move to 4-over for the round but suffered a 4-over on the par-5 ninth on the last hole of the event to be relegated to 8-over 80 on the day.
Playing unattached as an individual, Kaitlyn Wingnean shot 79 on Tuesday for a 54-hole score of 233 to come home in a three-way tie for 68th. Wingnean had seven birdies over the three-round tournament, two coming on Tuesday.
High Point (869) rallied to claim a four-stroke victory over the second-place tie between Tulane and host Charleston Southern, tied at 873. First-round leader Boston College finished fourth with a score of 878 with USC Upstate finishing fifth at 888, just three strokes ahead of the Catamounts in sixth.
Elon’s Kanokwan Ngamwong and Susana Olivares of Jacksonville finished the tournament tied atop the individual standings with matching scores of 3-under par 213.
Western Carolina returns to action March 13-14, heading west to Boulder City, Nev., for the Jackrabbit Invitational, hosted by South Dakota State at the Boulder Creek Golf Course. Live scoring of the tournament will be available online through GolfStat with a link at CatamountSports.com.
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6 – Western Carolina – 294 – 299 – 298 = 891 (+27)
T7 – Elizabeth Lohbauer (4) – 72 – 74 – 70 = 216 (E)
T29 – Victoria Ladd (2) – 70 – 78 – 75 = 223 (+7)
T45 – Brie Mapanao (5) – 76 – 75 – 75 = 226 (+10)
T55 – Madison Isaacson (1) – 76 – 75 – 78 = 229 (+13)
T63 – Kayleigh Baker (3) – 76 – 75 – 80 = 231 (+15)
T68 – Kaitlyn Wingnean (ind.) – 74 – 80 – 79 = 233 (+17)