The Valparaiso University women’s golf team finished up the fall portion of its 2021-2022 season on Tuesday at the Dayton Fall Invitational, hosted at the par-70, 5968-yard NCR Country Club in Kettering, Ohio. The Beacons matched their team score from Monday’s opening round to crack the program record book in 36-hole team score, while Madison Keil (LaGrange, Ind. / Lakeland) led the way with a strong showing in Round 2.

How It Happened

• Keil carded a 73 on Tuesday, elevating to the team’s top spot by tying for 26^th. She posted a 36-hole score of 153 as Tuesday represented a seven-stroke improvement from her first round.
• Tuesday’s other sub-80 round came courtesy of Payton Hodson (Middleton, Wis. / Middleton), who was the only Valpo golfer to enjoy rounds of under 80 on both days of the tournament. She tied for 31^st on the individual leaderboard by virtue of a 36-hole score of 155 (76-79).
• Cailey Rooker (St. Joseph, Mich. / St. Joseph) was also part of the tie for 31^st in the 77-player field, finishing the week at 155 behind a strong Round-1 effort
• As a team, Valpo carded a 312 in both rounds to finish at 624 (+64), placing ninth in a 12-team field. The Beacons finished ahead of Youngstown State, Ohio and Eastern Illinois and were just two strokes behind a seventh-place tie between Northern Kentucky and Bellarmine University.
• The University of Indianapolis won the event at 589, while Ohio State’s Alexis Phadungmartvorakul was the individual medalist at 139.

Inside the Round

• Valpo had the fourth-best Par-3 scoring average in the field at 3.40 while also turning in the field’s fourth-best average on Par 5s at 5.20.
• The Beacons birdied on 11 occasions during the tournament, led by Keil with four.
• Valpo cracked the program record book for 36-hole tournament low as the team score of 624 ranks fourth in program history. The program record for a 36-hole tournament also came at the Dayton Fall Invitational, when the team carded a 592 back in 2012.
• At +64, this week’s showing ranks ninth in program history in 36-hole tournament score in relation to par.
• Keil tied for the 10^th-best 36-hole tournament score in program history at 153. She became the first Beacon to crack the program’s top 10 in that area since Hodson held that same score of 153 at the 2019 Dayton Fall Invitational.

Up Next

The Beacons will begin the spring portion of the season on Monday, March 7 at the Butler Benbow Invitational, hosted at Jacksonville Beach GC in Jacksonville, Fla.