The home crowd applauded as Jane Hopkinson-Wood, '18, putt her way to her fourth individualist award of the 2017 fall season over the weekend.
The All-American sunk 27 pars this weekend for a score of 144 at Wittenberg's Pat Clouse Invitational. Breaking even, she beat out Gigi Garcia of Washington University (Mo.), who finished five strokes over.
After eight rounds of golf this fall, Hopkinson-Wood has been averaging about two strokes over par. Not only is this the senior's fourth consecutive individual honors this season, the invitational marked her 12th while donning Tiger red and white.
Wittenberg also claimed the first-place prize for their overall finish through Springfield Country Club's 36-hole course, their first champion honors of the season after being named runner-up in two tournaments earlier this fall.
The Tigers were down by a single stroke after the first round, however it was Brianna Yee, '18, and Devon Atchison, '19, who paved way to a comeback to finish four ahead of Washington.
Yee chipped in one over par on day two, following round one's 84. Atchison also narrowed in on home turf, dropping from an 82 first-round score to a 76 on day two.
Although the rain held off, weather proved to be the challenge on Saturday as tee shots were affected by the 10 miles per hour winds blowing south with gusts up to almost 30 miles per hour. Calmer weather on Sunday helped Yee and Atchison regain their momentum to take back the tournament.
While finishing 41 over par, the biggest competitors for the Tigers continued to be Washington, finishing 45 over, and conference competitor DePauw University, finishing 65 strokes over. DePauw overpowered Wittenberg at the Lynn Schweizer Invitational on Sep. 2-3 by five strokes, while Washington took down the Tigers two weekends ago by one stroke when they traveled to DePauw's Dan Quayle Invitational.
This year marked Hopkinson-Wood's third appearance before a home crowd at the Pat Clouse Invitational, as the Tigers took a year gap last season.
While the Pattstown, Pa. native has been a Tiger, the team has only been able to receive tournament champions accolades once, as they were runners-up in 2014 and 2015.
Hopkinson-Wood has seen improvement as a Tiger, finishing on Wittenberg turf 16-over par in 2014 to this year breaking even. Yee, swinging as an individual in 2014, improved from 25-over to 13-over par. Atchison chipped a 176 after two rounds of action in 2015 and finished with a score of 158 this year.
Pat Clouse, namesake of the invitational, graduated Wittenberg in 1964 and was a member of the Wittenberg faculty in the health, fitness, and sport department from 1968 to 2007. Not only did she coach the women's golf team from 2003 until her retirement, she also founded the team as a club sport in 2001. Clouse also founded and coached the opening seasons of the Tiger swimming and diving team and the women's lacrosse team.
Wittenberg Women's Golf will take a trip to Mansfield, Ohio over fall break to preview the NCAC championship course.
By: Sutton Jacobs, '19