The nationally ranked Duke University women’s golf team won the 14th annual Landfall Tradition golf tournament Oct. 23-25 with team score of -9, despite Michigan State scoring a record-setting 13-under-par in its final round.
“No one’s ever even come close to that,” said Pete Hexter, tournament co-founder.
Five-player teams representing 18 colleges from around the country golfed Friday through Sunday over Landfall’s Dye Course. Each team’s worst individual score was thrown out, which Hexter said lessens the pressure on individual players.
“If you have a bad hole or two, you know that you haven’t taken your whole team down,” he said.
The tournament was originally held on Landfall’s Nicklaus Course but was switched to the Dye Course after it became an all-female event. Two women’s NCAA golf championships have been held over the course, Hexter explained, so the players like to test their skills over “one of the best women’s golf venues in the country.”
The tournament’s golfers were some of the best in the country, too. Michigan State golfer Sarah Burnham’s three-day score of 71-74-66 earned her the top individual award, and Hexter said a number of the players participating were good enough to play professionally after college.
The talent on display represented some of the best young golfers in the world, because many colleges now recruit not only in the United States but in Europe and Southeast Asia, too.
“They don’t have a collegiate environment over there to compete in so this is kind of like the minor leagues for them,” Hexter said.
UNCW, which finished the tournament in 10th place after ending the first two days of play tied for fifth, has two international players — Ellinoora Moisio from Finland and Annette Lyche from Norway.
Lyche said she was able to catch up with a lot of her European golf friends during the tournament because the sport lends itself to camaraderie between teammates and opponents, too.
“You might as well socialize with everyone,” she said. “You walk around with them for five hours.”
Lyche said the conditions for this year’s tournament were good, especially on Sunday. UNCW head coach Cindy Ho agreed, saying while her team played well in the windy weather Saturday, they fell behind Sunday because other teams did a better job capitalizing on the improving conditions.
“Today, the conditions were perfect, so it really leant for some low numbers,” she said after the event. “Today when maybe you could attack some more we just didn’t make as many birdies as we needed too, but I’m pleased with their effort.”
UNCW has played in the Landfall Tradition tournament every year since its inception. Lyche said not only is it one of the most challenging tournaments in the country, but the local community involvement makes it fun.
“All the Landfall people come here to support us,” she said, adding the tournament incorporates professional touches like posting each player’s name, school and score on the front of her golf cart.
“I think it’s probably one of the only tournaments in the U.S. to do that,” she said.
And on top of that, she added, “We get free pizza!”
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