Penn women’s golf is starting off the season strong.
Despite starting with a ninth-place finish at their first invitational of the season, the team came back better than ever during their next event, finishing in second out of 12 teams.
Penn freshman Juliet Oh started her collegiate golf career off as a standout player. After placing in the top five individually at the team’s debut and tying for the individual title at the second tournament, Oh is leading the team to success.
With only two tournaments in the books, the Quakers are only getting started with their season. But, before we see how Penn fares in its next tournament in the United Kingdom, let’s take a closer look at the performances so far here in the United States.
Season opener at the Nittany Lion Invitational
The Quakers began the season at the Nittany Lion Invitational hosted by Penn State. Virginia Tech, Maryland, and Harvard took the top three spots, while Penn women’s golf finished in ninth out of 18 teams. Shooting 876, or 12 over par, the team achieved the fourth best score for 54 holes in Penn women’s golf history.
Individually, the match featured some major highlights.
Oh stood out as a major highlight. For the debut of her collegiate career, Oh tied for fifth place out of 90 golfers, shooting 210, or six under par.
Not only was this an outstanding start for Oh, but it was also nearly a historic one.
Oh was just one shot away from tying the school-record score of seven under par for 54 holes, which is currently held by 2023 Wharton graduate Susan Xiao, who achieved the feat in 2019.
The team’s performance was backed up by fellow players like sophomore Mi Li, who was named first team All-Ivy last season. Li shot two over par, 218, and placed 29th individually in the tournament.
Furthermore, both junior Claire Lu and sophomore Adrienne Ahn-Upton tied career-lows. Lu tied her score for a round by scoring one under par, 71, and Ahn-Upton tied her score for 54 holes with 9 over par, 225.
Penn dominates at the Princeton Invitational
The Quakers brought their A-game to their second match at the Princeton Invitational.
Playing 36 holes, Penn placed second among 12 teams, only falling to the Princeton Tigers. As a team, Penn shot 12 over par, with their second-round score of three over par being the best performance among all teams during that round.
Additionally, Oh was able to one-up her previous performance by tying for the individual tournament title. She shot an outstanding score of 140, two over par, making her only the third Penn freshman to win a tournament title in the last 20 seasons.
Adding to the team’s successes, Lu followed up on her last game by going three over par and tying for eighth individually.
“We are incredibly proud of how our team battled this weekend,” assistant coach Karen Siegel said in a Penn Athletics press release. “Juliet Oh’s individual win along with our second place finish are both a first in team history at the Princeton Invitational.”
Looking ahead to St. Andrews Links
Penn women’s golf is only starting out. Following their great start to the season, the Quakers will be traveling overseas to Scotland to play in the St. Andrews Links Collegiate from Oct. 12-14.
This will be the first time Penn plays in the tournament, joining UT Austin, Washington, and the University of St. Andrews.
