Kansas junior Lyla Louderbaugh earned her first individual title of the season by shooting a 9-under 207 in three rounds at the Yale West Invitational, which concluded on Tuesday in La Quinta, California.
It is the third individual victory for a Jayhawk this season.
“She was really consistent with her approach shots and putted really well this week with great speed control,” KU coach Lindsay Kuhle said in a press release.
Louderbaugh won by a three-stroke margin over San Diego State’s Ema Narita and Pepperdine’s Yingzhi Zhu. She shot 4-under in the first and second rounds of the event to claim first place after Monday’s action, then held on with a 1-under 71 on Tuesday.
Only five other golfers shot individual rounds of 4-under or better over the course of the event, and one of them was Louderbaugh’s sophomore teammate Ebba Nordstedt, who finished in a tie for fourth at 5-under, improving in each successive round.
Seniors Amy DeKock and Anna Wallin tied for 13th at 2-over and freshman Kinslea Jones was 23rd at 5-over. Fellow freshman Marieke Ebens competed as an individual and shot 7-over, which put her at 27th.
As a team, KU finished in second place, matching its performance from last year’s edition of the Yale West Invitational. This year, the Jayhawks, at 13-under, fell two strokes short of No. 10 Pepperdine; 38th-ranked KU did finish ahead of a number of higher-ranked teams, including No. 37 Virginia Tech (third place, 2-over), No. 29 Kansas State (fourth place, 9-over) and No. 35 Cal State Fullerton (sixth place, 22-over).
This is the second individual victory of Louderbaugh’s career after she earned a memorable first-place finish by shooting 12-under in NCAA regional competition in Columbus, Ohio, last May. Entering Monday and Tuesday’s competition, she was coming off a career-best 13-under performance in 54 holes at the Wisconsin Westbrook Invitational.
Next up for the Jayhawks is the PING/ASU Invitational in Phoenix beginning on March 23.
Ocean Course Hokuala
