Olivia sixth as Leona bags her 28th career Top-10
OLIVIA Mehaffey finished sixth for winners Arizona State as Duke University’s Leona Maguire claimed the 28th top-10 of her college career in the Windy City Collegiate Championship in Illinois.
Mehaffey, an Irish international playing out of Royal County Down Ladies, shot rounds of 65, 74 and 73 to finish five strokes behind Oklahoma State’s Maddie McCrary on one-under par at Northmoor Country Club.
NCAA champions Arizona State won the team title by 11 strokes from Oklahoma State on one-over-par as Dudkfedfsinf ished fifth, 18 strokes behind,
Amateur No 1 Leona posted rounds of 71, 71 and 73 to finish tied for ninth on two-over.
Her 28th career top-10, which currently ranks fourth on Duke’s alltime charts, came just days after she accepted the 2017 Annika Award.
“To the players, this is our award,” said Maguire after being honoured in a 2016-17 season that brought three wins, two seconds and three thirdplace finishes and a scoring average of
70.29 that was the lowest single-season mark in Division I women’s college golf since Lorena Ochoa posted a
70.13 average in 2001-02.
Her postseason included a victory at the ACC Championship and a tie for second at the NCAA Championship.
“I’m incredibly honoured that you thought I deserved this award, and that I earned your respect.”
Having previously won the Annika Award as a freshman, Leona told Sorenstam: “You’re a legend of the game. For you to put your name to an award like this and invest your time and effort into women’s college golf … it’s very special for all of us to get to compete for an award that has your name on it.”