EAST LANSING, MICH. – Emily James and Judy Amano finished in the top-10 individually to lead the Rutgers women’s golf team to a fourth-place finish at the Mary Fossum Invitational at Forest Akers Golf Club in East Lansing, Michigan.
James tied for eighth with Michigan State’s Sarisa Pojanalai with a 7-over-par 151 over the rain-shortened 36-hole tournament. James held the individual lead after the first round, finishing her first 18 holes at 1-under 71. However, she struggled a bit more in the second round, carding an 80 to finish the round at 8-over-par.
Amano made a large jump up the leaderboard between rounds one and two. After finishing the first round tied for 27th with a 6-over 78, Amano jumped 17 spots up the individual standings after carding a 2-over 74 in the second round to finish the tournament tied for tenth with Central Michigan’s Lexi Schulman and Bowling Green’s Avery Thompson with an 8-over 152.
Two other Scarlet Knights finished in the top-20 in East Lansing. Grace Lu and Joline Truong both finished tied for 17th with +10s for the tournament. Lu made the biggest moves for Rutgers, jumping 25 spots up the individual standings between the first and second rounds.
As a team, the Scarlet Knights’ finish in East Lansing marks their best finish of the season to date. Rutgers had the best par-4 scoring average in the field and holed a tournament-best 21 birdies over the two rounds. James led the way for the Scarlet Knights, sinking six birdies, good enough for a tie for third overall, while Amano, Lu, and Truong sank five birdies apiece to tie for fifth-best in the field.
“We got off to a slow start and struggled with our putting, but buckled down and closed with a few birdies down the stretch,” said Rutgers head coach Kari Williams, adding, “We have a short turn around before we tee it up at Princeton this weekend, but I’m confident in our experience at Springdale.”
Delaware won the Mary Fossum Invitational team title with Central Michigan coming in second, and host Michigan State coming in third. Delaware golfers Rhianna Gooneratne and Mary Grace Dunigan placed first and third in the individual competition with Bowling Green’s Addison Kartusch coming in second.
The Scarlet Knights will be in action against this weekend when they trek to Springdale Golf Club in Princeton to compete in the Princeton Invitational.
