2023 Pacific West Conference Championship (Final Results)

LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz. – Academy of Art women's golf senior Jae Eun Park started Wednesday in a tie for first at the Pacific West Conference Championship hosted by Wigwam Golf Course, and after a tough battle through the final round, Park ended up one stroke away from a tournament victory as she tied for second place at 16-over-par 232 while capturing a spot on the PacWest All-Tournament Team. Meanwhile, the Urban Knights finished in seventh place as a team with a combined score of 117-over-par 981. 

Park began her day with a chance to be the first Urban Knight to win the individual title at the PacWest Championship since former teammate Anahi Servin won three straight from 2018-2021 (no championship in 2020), and her birdie on the fourth hole helped her stay level in the early goings until she ran into three consecutive bogeys to close out the front nine at 3-over. Making the turn to the back nine where she went without a birdie, Park continued to hold at least a share of the lead through the majority of her final nine holes, only falling out of the lead after she had completed her final round at 8-over-par 80. Even though she didn't add to her numbers on Wednesday, Park's six total birdies were tied for fifth-most in the tournament field. 

Storming up the leaderboard in the latter part of the round was the eventual champion Lavinia Romito of Holy Names, climbing three spots in the final round to hold a slight two-stroke edge over Park and Brady Turnquist of Biola with three holes to go. Despite a birdie on her 16th hole, Romito saved par on the 17th and 18th for the individual tournament win, leaving Park and Turnquist to share the runner-up position. 

Next up in the Academy of Art scoring was freshman Maddie Elias, who also captured a spot on the PacWest All-Tournament Team in her first PacWest Championship by tying for 10th place with a final score of 23-over-par 239.  Though she began her first and second holes with a bogey, Elias picked up her first birdie of the day on the fourth and eventually went on to make the turn at 3-over, then picked up another stroke thanks to her birdie on the 14th before eventually ending the round at 7-over-par 79. Rounding out the scoring for Academy of Art was junior Napat "Plern" Rattanaprakarn in 30th place at 40-over-par 256, while freshman Nicole Yang finished 32nd at 44-over-par 260. 

Boosted by the individual champion, nationally-ranked No. 41 Holy Names captured the victory in the team portion of the tournament after they combined on a final score of 85-over-par 949. Leading at one time by as many as 13 strokes in the final round, the Hawks finished with just a six-shot edge over second place and No. 13 Point Loma (91-over-par 955), and No. 44 Biola took home the bronze (96-over-par 960). 

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