The Valparaiso University women’s golf team rounded out its fall season on Tuesday, competing in the Braun Intercollegiate hosted by Evansville at Oak Meadow Country Club. After inclement weather hit the area on Monday, the event was shortened to one 18-hole round. A pair of Valpo players finished in the Top 10 on the individual leaderboard.

How It Happened

• The team’s top finish of the day came courtesy of senior Tiffany Curtis (Crown Point, Ind. / Crown Point), who carded a 77 (+5) to finish in a tie for fifth.
• Valpo’s other Top-10 finisher was sophomore Payton Hodson (Middleton, Wis. / Middleton), who stroked a 78 (+6). She tied for ninth in the individual standings.
• Senior Kayla Krueger (Spring Lake, Mich. / Spring Lake) was third on the team with an 83 (+11), which put her at t-37 in the 74-player field.
• Loyola’s Sabrina Hoskins, Butler’s Ally Ross and IUPUI’s Marion DeBove shared individual medalist honors at 75 (+3).
• Valpo totaled a 324 (+36) as a team, finishing in sixth of 12. The team placed ahead of Missouri Valley Conference foes Southern Illinois and Evansville plus UIC, Northern Kentucky, Tennessee State and Eastern Illinois.

Inside the Round

• Curtis had her first Top-5 finish of the season and the second of her career. She previously finished tied for third of 20 at the Chi-Town Classic in August of 2016. This event was a much larger field with 74 players.
• Hodson was a member of the Top 10 in an event for the second time in her career and the first time this season. She previously cracked the Top 10 at the 2018 Loyola Fall Invitational.
• Valpo finished the fall with five total Top-10 finishes and a pair of Top-5 showings.
• The four-player team scoring average for the season is 321.25. If Valpo can sustain its fall success during the spring, it is in position to break the current program record for season scoring average, which is 322.2 set in 2016-17.
• Krueger finished the fall as the team leader with a 78.25 average. If she keeps at this pace through the spring, the senior would finish second in program history in single-season scoring average behind only Kelly Voigt (2012-2013) at 77.52.
• This was the eighth consecutive year Valpo competed in the Braun Intercollegiate.

Thoughts from Head Coach Jill McCoy

“Tiffany played very well today. She hit her last shot from 60 yards in the hole to round out a solid round. Payton also played well today. I am happy with the progress we made this season already, and I’m looking forward to the strides we can make in the spring.” 

Up Next

With the fall season in the books, Valpo will begin preparation for the spring campaign. The team’s next tournament will be the Motor City Invite, which begins on Sunday, Feb. 9 at Mission Inn Resort & Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.