Echeverria tops Bettie Lou Evans event, Kentucky wins team title
Pilar Echeverria (Photo submitted)
The Kentucky women ran away with their own Bettie Lou Evans Invitational on Sunday, going 5 under for 54 holes to outscore the next-closest team by 15 shots. There’s history to note here, considering that Kentucky defended its title in its home event for the first time since the 1996-97 season.
Kentucky also won the Minnesota Invitational to start the fall, making this the first multiple-win season since the late 90s as well.
But while the home team was making waves in the team division, Indianapolis senior Pilar Echeverria was making headlines of her own in the individual race. For the second time in the course of the past year, Echeverria, a Division II player, won the individual title in a Division I field.
Indianapolis, the No. 2-ranked team in the last WGCA Coaches Poll and the 2018 NCAA Division II national champions, regularly tests itself against Division I competition. Last spring, that mean the Ohio State-hosted Lady Buckeye Invitational.
Echeverria won that title by one shot with her 1-under total. This week, the senior from Guatemala had rounds of 70-71-70 for a 5 under total that left her two shots ahead of three plyers tied for second.
“It’s not only UIndy I’m representing, it’s Division II I’m representing,” Echeverria told
AmateurGolf.com after last spring’s Lady Buckeye win.
This is Echeverria’s 14th individual title in her career at Indianapolis and comes weeks after she represented her home country at the Pan American Games in Lima Peru. Echeverria finished 13th individually there.
As a team, Indianapolis finished at 36 over, good for ninth place.