Alabama
Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge
Alabama Women’s Golf Places 15th Overall at Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge
2/5/2019 6:48:00 PM | Women's Golf
Junior Jiwon Jeon finished tied for 26th overall to lead UA
PALOS VERDES, Calif. – The No. 5 Alabama women's golf team finished play at the 2019 Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge on Tuesday, finishing in 15th overall with a 54-hole total of 913 (307-301-305). Of the 16 teams in this year's event, nine are nationally-ranked among the Golfstat.com top-15, while 13 squads are ranked among the nation's top-35.
Stanford, ranked 13th in the nation, won the team title with an 867, finishing two shots ahead of No. 12 UCLA (869). Top-ranked USC (871) finished third, followed by No. 2 Texas (875). Oklahoma State and No. 9 Arizona tied for fifth overall, with both teams carding an 884 to finish 17 shots behind the Cardinal.
"This was a tough trip because the weather was so uncharacteristic of what you would expect in Southern California," Alabama head coach Mic Potter said. "We got a little practice in on Friday at Trump National, then Saturday was miserable – just a complete wash out of the practice round. We were able to walk down and look at a couple of holes but that was it. This was by far the trickiest golf course that we will play and with four players who have never played it before, that was a huge disadvantage I thought.
"We had a lot of things to overcome, but we were able to get a few good rounds in throughout the tournament. It's clear we have to work a lot on our short games. We had situations where, even though we might not have hit great shots, we were leaving the ball in good positions but then failing to convert up-and-downs that were fairly straight forward. We have to get better at that. That said, there were a lot of good things and we had players improve incrementally and will be much better as we go along. We just need to take away that if you have a great attitude and a great short game, it's possible to put a pretty good score on the board even if you don't have your best stuff."
Junior Jiwon Jeon led the Crimson Tide throughout the event as she finished tied for 26th with a three-day total of 10-over par 223 (73-75-75). Jeon excelled on par 3 holes where she averaged 3.00 (E) to finish seventh among all individuals in the category.
Junior Kenzie Wright carded the best round of any UA golfer over the 54-hole event when she shot an even par 71 on Tuesday. As a result, the Frisco, Texas, native vaulted 16 spots up the leaderboard and finished tied for 31st overall at 11-over par 224 (76-77-71).
Sophomore Angelica Moresco tied for 51st overall after carding a 228 (75-72-81) on the par-71, 6,017-yard Palos Verdes Golf Club course. Freshman Mary Mac Trammel (84-77-80/241) and Carolina Caminoli (83-84-79/246) rounded out the Crimson Tide golfers in 79th and 82nd, respectively.
"It's probably too early in the year for us to start competing, but this golf course just does a great job of identifying where you are at as a team," Potter added. "I think everybody comes away knowing what you need to do to get better and that's what we really wanted to get out it."
The Crimson Tide will return to action on March 8-10 when it travels to Hilton Head, S.C. to compete at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, hosted by South Carolina.
Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabamaWGolf, on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Women's Golf on Facebook. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.
Players Mentioned
