Arizona women’s golf opens season with 6th place finish at ANNIKA Intercollegiate

The Arizona women’s golf team earned a sixth-place showing at the prestigious ANNIKA Intercollegiate tournament to open the 2021-2022 season.

The 13th-ranked Wildcats shot a 2-over par across the 3-round event, which is named after Arizona alum and LPGA Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam. The 12-team event was held at the Royal Golf Club in Lake Elmo, Minnesota.

Arizona was led by Yu-Sang Hou, who finished seventh individually with a 4-under par. Hou buried a hole-in-one on the 160-yard, 12^th hole Wednesday to go 2-under for the round.

The Wildcats’ second-best performance came from freshman Lilas Pinthier, who was competing in her first ever collegiate event. The Paris, France native was even for the tournament to finish in a tie for 15^th.

Yu-Sang’s sister, Vivian, shot 2-over to place tied for 20^th, while Gile Bite Starkute shot a 4-over, good enough for a tie for 28^th.

Though Arizona finished well behind tournament champion South Carolina (-14), the Wildcats outshot Pac-12 opponents USC (+3), ASU (+5), and UCLA (+7) as well as defending national champion Ole Miss (+7).

“Our team played its most complete round of the day, and that was encouraging to see as numerous other teams in the field didn’t break par today,” head coach Laura Ianello said. “Our lineup played great golf and shot their lowest scores of the week today. Yu-Sang’s hole in one was the cherry on top of a good week at the ANNIKA.”

Arizona will next compete at the Tyson Intercollegiate Oct. 4-6 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The Wildcats return five golfers from last year’s team, which reached the NCAA Championship semifinals.