Dennis Rose Invitational Individual Final Results
Dennis Rose Invitational Team Final Results
 
WAIKOLOA, HAWAII – When it rains it pours. As does the success for No. 10 Academy of Art women's golf. The Urban Knights placed first in the Dennis Rose Intercollegiate Invitational, marking their second win of the season and putting an exclamation point on the most successful fall in program history.
 
The Knights entered the third and final round on Tuesday, holding the top spot in the standings. In the final 18 holes, Academy of Art stood their ground and claimed first after a total of 313 strokes. With an overall score of 916, they outpaced Division I Stetson University who finished in second by 10 strokes.
 
"There was really good morale with the team throughout the tournament and they were definitely feeling energized," said head coach Elaine Harris. "Each player was seeing successes and that helped motivate us. We were also able to keep a fast pace of play, so that helped us keep our momentum going."
 
On the individual side, junior Sterling Hawkins entered Tuesday in sole possession of first place. However, the windy conditions raised her score on the back nine holes, landing her in second overall. With a total of 228 strokes, she finished just two behind Paige Kemp from Stetson.
 
"Sterling was hitting the ball really well today which gave her good opportunities for birdies," said Harris. "In general, her ball striking and putting were great throughout."
 
The other three scorers for the Urban Knights finished just behind Sterling as they all placed within the top six. Junior Shu-lin Lin's 78 in the final round propelled her into a tie for third and was just one stroke in front of senior Roxanne Matta in fifth (231 overall). Senior Crystal Wang shot a 79 on Tuesday, giving her a total of 232 strokes for the tournament and a tie for sixth-place. Although her score did not count, redshirt freshman Han-Chuan "Vicky" Kuo posted her best round of the invitational on the final day, finishing with a 76 to land one stroke behind Wang in eighth-place. Kuo was one of just four individuals (in a field of 31 players), who saw an improvement over their second-round score.
 
In Academy of Art's four fall tournaments, they claimed first-place as a team twice, never finished below third, and saw two golfers claim the individual title. The Urban Knights will now head home after their Hawaiian-stay to prepare for the spring season.

 
"The team is ready to compete and they are all pushing each other to be better," said Harris. "I want the focus for the spring to be for everyone to have an internal competition to continue improving themselves."