Calgary golfer sets new standard for Ohio State
Calgary’s Jaclyn Lee didn’t quite finish at the top of the class. She was darn close.
Lee was perched atop the individual leaderboard with five holes left to play during Monday’s final round at the 2018 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship, but the 21-year-old rising star from Calgary would settle for a tie for fifth.
A standout for the Ohio State Buckeyes, Lee’s title quest was eventually spoiled by a pair of bogeys and then a double bogey during a three-hole stretch from Nos. 15-17 at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla.
She signed for a four-round tally of 4-under 284, four shots back of eventual winner Jennifer Kupcho of Wake Forest University.
A member at Glencoe Golf & Country Club and representative of Golf Canada’s national amateur team, Lee’s T-5 showing still marks the best-ever individual performance on behalf of the Buckeyes at the national showdown.
“Recording the best finish in school history means a lot to me,” Lee told Ohio State’s official website. “It would’ve been great to go out there and win it today, but I put myself in some difficult situations on the golf course and recovered on the last hole. I played my heart out, and that’s all I can ask for.”
Thanks to a 6-under 66 in Sunday ’s spin, Lee was one shot off the lead after three days of action at Karsten Creek.
The Central Memorial High School grad would briefly climb to the top rung Monday afternoon, but she ultimately wasn’t able to get her hands on a trophy that has previously been hoisted by the starry likes of Annika Sorenstam and Stacy Lewis.
Lee played her final four assignments in 3-over, while Kupcho was 1-under during that same stretch.
“I sent her a message almost instantly saying, ‘Golf sucks sometimes. Be proud of what you did,’ ” said Tristan Mullally, head coach for Golf Canada’s national women’s program. “And the last message that she sent me was: ‘Everything is a learning experience.’ And we’ve been talking about that.
“It’s not always the wins that are going to help you learn. It’s sometimes the failures, and you look at what could have been better and how you could have potentially made different decisions.”
Lee won three individual tournament titles, including a recordtying performance at the Big Ten Women’s Championship, where she equalled the all-time standard with a three-day total of 9-under 207.
Lee’s season scoring average of 71.14 is the lowest in school history.
She’ll be back at Ohio State for one more season — and one more crack at winning the NCAA crown.
“That was a very, very difficult golf course,” Mullally said of Karsten Creek. “On a golf course like that, the best players shine through. If you look at the Top-10 on that leaderboard, they were all standouts … It was a quality golf course that brought out the best, and Jaclyn fits right in there.” Chip shots: Wes Heffernan, a longtime tour pro and now an instructor at Golf Canada Calgary Centre topped the field at a U.S. Open local qualifier last week in Missoula, Mont. The 41-year-old advances to sectional qualifying, the final step on the road to Shinnecock Hills. Heffernan has twice qualified for the U.S. Open — in 2001 at Southern Hills and a decade later at Congressional … Eric Locke (Priddis Greens) sizzled to a 6-under 66 to claim bragging rights at the PGA of Alberta’s Golf Supply House Series stop at Sirocco.