Women's Golf | 5/17/2019 5:31:00 PM

HOUSTON  Methodist on Friday overcame an eight-stroke deficit on the final day of the NCAA 2019 Division III Women's Golf Championship to move up a spot into a third-place finish.

Trailing defending national champion Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (Calif.) Colleges (315-303-308-307—1,233, 81-over-par) after Thursday's round, the Monarchs (307-307-320-298—1,232, +80) posted their best round of the tournament (298) Friday to pass the Athenas on the team leaderboard by one stroke.

Senior Peyton Durham (75-77-79-74—305, +17), in the final tournament of her Methodist career, used her best round of the four-day event to move up four spots and claim a tie for ninth place in the final standings.

New York University used the low round of the tournament (294) to rally from second place on the team leaderboard and pass runner-up Williams (Mass.) College for a five-stroke victory.

Despite her team's drop into second place, Williams' Cordelia Chan was able to capture the individual national title, climbing from second place into a one-stroke victory over NYU's Arshia Mahant.

THE ESSENTIALS
Event: NCAA 2019 Division III Women's Golf Championship
Participants: 25 teams, and 6 individuals; 131 golfers; cut to 15 teams after three rounds
Location: Bay Oaks Country Club (Par 72, 5,889 yards); Houston, Texas
Top 3 teams: 1 – NYU (311-302-310-294—1,217, +65), 2 – Williams (309-306-300-307—1,222, +70), 3 – Methodist (307-307-320-298—1,232, +80)
Top 3 individuals: 1 – Cordelia Chan, Williams (75-75-74-72—296, +8), 2 – Arshia Mahant, NYU (82-71-75-69—297, +9), 3 – Emily Salamy, Rhodes (Tenn.) College (74-75-74-75—298, +10)

THE DETAILS

• Durham roared off the first tee Friday, carding eight consecutive pars before dropping in a birdie putt on No. 9. The senior added a birdie on the 10th, gave the stroke back on the 11th, but responded with successful par putts on the next two holes.
• A double on No. 14 could have started a disastrous roll, but Durham again answered with back-to-back pars before finishing her final collegiate round with par, bogey, par.
• Climbing 16 spots on the leaderboard Friday was WGCA 2019 All-American and Freshman of the Year Jillian Drinkard (12th, 80-76-79-71—306, +18) with, easily, her best round of the championship. Two birdies offset a bogey on the 3rd to allow Drinkard to make the turn at 1-under, a number she held through the first three holes on the back nine with more pars. Bogeys on Nos. 13 and 14 were unsettling, but she came back with birdies on the 15th and 16th before parring the final two holes and finishing the round at 1-under.
• Alexandra Williams (T-28th, 76-81-79-77—313, +25), a freshman making her first appearance in a national tournament, fought through an up and down final round to move up four spots on the final leaderboard.
• A trio of pars welcomed her to the morning, but a birdie sandwiched by a bogey and a double were cause for concern. Williams, however, was able to finish out the front nine at even par over the last three holes. Three blemishes on the back nine were unwanted, but otherwise, Williams laid down six par putts to finish in the afternoon with a 5-over 77.
• Bouncing back on Friday from her first over-90 collegiate round was Paige Church (T-43rd, 76-75-91-76—318, +30). She moved up 12 spots on the day, sparked by an even-par front nine.
• The junior was still at even par after 14 holes but a pair of double bogeys were the bookends to her final four holes and she accepted a 4-over 76.
• Morgan Bowen (T-64th, 80-79-83-85—327, +39) found her rhythm early on Friday, two pars to start the morning, but then lost it, picking up six strokes on the next three holes.
• A 2019 WGCA All-East Region player, the junior responded to those troubles with four pars to head into the turn with momentum. The quick break was not agreeable, though, as the added three strokes on the 10th and 11 before coming back to par on the 12th. Her day finished with a 7-over back half and a 13-over round.

OF NOTE

• Methodist tied Williams for the most pars (210) during the tournament. The Monarchs also collected the fourth-most birdies (31) over the four days in Houston.
• Durham's 49 pars topped all players in the national championship.
• The top three teams at the finish had come into the championship ranked third, sixth and 10th, respectively, in the final regular-season Golfstat.com rankings. The leaders in that ranking, No.1 Carleton (Minn.) College and No. 2 George Fox (Ore.) University finished tied for seventh in Houston.