IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Drake University women's golf team ended a weekend of consistent play in challenging conditions with a fifth-place team finish at the Diane Thomason Invitational at Iowa City's Finkbine Golf Course.
The Bulldogs finished the three-round event at 315-316-316 – 947, playing all three rounds in cold, rainy weather. Iowa won the event on its home course at 299-299-300 – 898.
The Bulldogs' final round of 316 was the fourth-best round on the day as the team nearly climbed into fourth place before finishing three strokes behind SIU on the final leaderboard.
Drake's final round was paced by 78s from
Erica Olberding (Des Moines, Iowa) and
Grace Dunn (Brookfield, Wis.). Olberding carded a pair of birdies on the front nine to finish 37-41 – 78 while Dunn recorded one birdie at 41-37 – 78.
Olberding was Drake's top overall finisher as her three-day score of 81-76-78 – 235 tied for 16th individually.
Haeri Lee (Buffalo Grove, Ill.) finished one stroke back at 76-81-89 – 236 to tie for 18th.
Dunn's final round moved her into a tie for 28th at 83-79-78 – 240 while
Sam Paulak (Kansas City, Mo.) carded the team's high round of the day Sunday to finish tied for 32nd at 79-80-82 – 241.
Sigurlaug Jonsdottir (Hafnarfjordur, Iceland) finished in a tie for 36th at 79-83-81 – 243.
Kristen Giles (Georgetown, Ontario) competed as an individual with an up-and-down Sunday round of 40-40 – 80 that included four birdies to finish the event at 83-83-80 – 246 and tie for 40th out of 54 golfers.
The Diane Thomason Invitational is part of a busy four days for the Bulldogs as they will depart Iowa City and travel west on I-80 to compete in the Creighton Classic, Oct. 1-2, in Omaha, Neb.
