Stanford grinds out win at the Bruin Wave Invitational

26 Feb 2019
see also: View results for Bruin Wave Invitational, Saticoy Country Club, Andrea Lee Rankings
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Andrea Lee was clutch down the stretch for the Cardinal (Stanford photo)

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (February 26, 2019) – Andrea Lee shot a 3-under 33 on the back nine to thrust Stanford into a lead it would not relinquish in the final round of the Bruin Wave Invitational.

Stanford, ranked No. 5 by the WGCA, captured its second consecutive tournament title – following its Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge victory to open the spring – by shooting a combined 8-over 296 in the final round for a three-shot victory. Stanford was the only school to shoot better than 10-over as a team Tuesday.

Oregon held on for second at 34-over 898, followed by Arizona State and UCLA as the Pac-12 took the top four spots.

Arizona State's Olivia Mehaffey captured medalist honors with a 4-over 220 on on the very difficult San Luis Obispo Country Club.

Sophomore Mika Liu had her finest tournament as a collegian for Stanford, finishing tied for third with an 8-over 224. Her previous best stroke-play finish was fourth at the Stanford Intercollegiate as a freshman.

Ziyi Wang had the finest final two rounds of any Stanford player in the tournament, with a 3-over 147 for the final 36 holes. She finished tied for eighth at 9-over 225.

Lee countered her second-round 81 from Monday with a strong 71, which was tied for the second-best round by any player in the event. She finished tied for 12th at 10-over 226, having moved up 25 places in the third round alone.

Aline Krauter, Stanford's co-leader Monday with Liu, was next for Stanford in a tie for 15th at 11-over 227. Calista Reyes was Stanford's No. 5 with a 36th-place finish at 16-over 231, and Albane Valenzuela was next in 39th at 16-over 232.

Valenzuela gave Stanford a spark Tuesday with four birdies on her first 10 holes, helping the Cardinal to overcome a four-shot deficit to leader Oregon after Monday's first two rounds.

After the Cardinal pulled even after the first five holes of the third round, Lee went on a tear. She birdied three consecutive holes after making the turn, including a pair of par-5's. Stanford continued to pull away, building a five-stroke lead and punctuated the victory with birdies on No. 15 by Reyes, No. 16 by Lee, and No. 18 by Wang.

Results: Bruin Wave Invitational