Women's golf finishes second at Princeton Invitational, first-year Ni leads team's scoring at -3

This past weekend, the women’s golf team hosted their first and only home tournament of the season, the Princeton Invitational, at Springdale Golf Club. Princeton finished in second place with a score of 582, trailing Seton Hall by seven strokes cumulatively over 36 holes. The Tigers’ leading scorer was first-year Grace Ni, who was -3 over the two days, shooting even par at 72 on Saturday and three-under 69 on Sunday. This was Ni’s second tournament at Princeton and her second tournament as the Tigers’ leading scorer. Senior co-captain Maya Walton also had a top-five finish at even par after being two-under par on Saturday and then two-over par on Sunday.

On Saturday, Princeton started well with Walton’s two-under par and Ni’s even par. Sophomore Sophie Siminoff was one-over par, but she was playing as an individual in the tournament. After the first day of the tournament, the Tigers found themselves in third place, one stroke behind Penn and nine strokes behind Seton Hall. This weekend’s tournament included all of the other Ivy League teams and a few other local rivals.

Sunday, feeling inspired to play for their seniors on Senior Day, Princeton came out and finished strong shooting the lowest team score on the day. Unfortunately, it was not enough to overcome Seton Hall’s lead from the first day. Along with Ni, the Tigers’ other first-year, Tiffany Kong, looked extremely poised, shooting an even-par 72 and improving three strokes on her 75 from Saturday.

Commenting on senior day, Walton said, “I know all of the seniors feel so grateful to have been a part of this program and to have had the opportunity to represent Princeton for the past three years. Our 2nd place finish as a team this weekend has us super excited for the rest of the year and to hopefully win our 3rd Ivy League Championship in the spring.”

Walton added, “Playing at home and having all our friends come out and support us was really special. We only have one home tournament, so our friends don’t get the chance to see us play often. Seeing them all out this weekend pumped us all up and set the tone for a great weekend.”

Next week, Princeton will close out its fall season with a three-day weekend tournament at the Yale Invitational in New Haven, held at The Course at Yale. The Tigers hope to finish their fall season strong there with another top-five team finish and more strong individual performances. Tee times will be available later in the week and live results will be available on Golfstat.