Women's Golf Sets 54-Hole Record, Wins By 18 Strokes

Inez Ng (pronounced E-ness Ung) won the individual title by eight strokes and the University of North Carolina women's golf team captured the overall championship by 18 shots in a record-setting performance Tuesday in the Cavalier Regional Preview at the University of Virginia's Birdwood Golf Course.

The Tar Heels shot 278-271-281 for a total of 830, 22 shots below par. Tournament host Virginia, the only other team to shoot below par, was second at 4-under 848. Tennessee finished third at 16 over par, 38 strokes behind the Tar Heels.

Ng, a junior from Singapore, was medalist for the first time as a Tar Heel, blistering the course and the field with rounds of 69-65-67 for a total of 12-under-par 201.

Ng set the all-time UNC record for strokes in a 54-hole tournament by three shots. The previous record was 204 by Krista Junkkari in the Cougar Classic in 2021 and Kelly Whaley in the Briar's Creek Invitational in 2018.

Ng's 12 under par ties the UNC record set by Junkkari and Whaley. She led the field in par 3 (4 under) and par 4 (4 under) scoring, tied for fourth in par 5 scoring (4 under) and made 16 birdies, four more than any other player in the tournament. Her final-round 67 included five birdies and one bogey. Over the 54 holes, she made 35 pars, 16 birdies, two bogeys and one double.

Carolina shattered the school record for strokes in a 54-hole tournament, breaking the previous mark by eight strokes. Ng, Megan Streicher, Ing Iadpluem, Helen Yeung and Reagan Southerland combined to shoot 22-under 830. The previous UNC record was 838 set in the 2016 Cougar Classic in Charleston, S.C.

Twenty-two under is the second-lowest score to par in program history.

The win is the fifth in four seasons for head coach Aimee Neff. In addition to Ng winning the individual title, Tar Heels placed second, fifth, tied for sixth and tied for 20^th and freshman Katie Vu tied for 10^th as an individual entry.

"I'm incredibly proud of our team playing under par in all three rounds despite the weather and conditions that were really tough," says Neff. "We battled but had consistency from top to bottom with Inez and Megan going one-two and five players in the top 10. Inez just had a really impressive performance to win by eight. She was so steady, even birdieing two of her last three holes with a big lead.

"The conditions were tough and the course played very long, but it's a great Davis Love III course. Our team had great attitudes and really good practices since our first tournament in Michigan. We learned a lot from that and are excited to be hosting our next start at Finley. We'd love to play well enough to come back here for NCAA regionals in May.

"All week the players were super teammates to each other, so I couldn't be prouder of this group. I love that we had two freshmen, two sophomores and two juniors playing this week and we beat a very good Virginia team that won a tournament this season in Japan."

Streicher finished a career-best second, her second-consecutive top-three finish this season. The junior from South Africa shot 70-70-69 for 4-under 209, to tie Virginia's Amanda Sambach for second place.

Iadpluem (71-65-75) was fifth at 2-under 211, Helen Yeung (68-73-71) tied for sixth at 1-under 212 and Southerland (75-71-74) tied for 20^th at 7-over 220.

Vu (71-70-72) was even par 213 to lead the 11 players in the field as individual entries.

Carolina returns to competition October 11-13 in the Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational at Finley Golf Club.

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Players Mentioned

Inez Ng

Reagan Southerland

Megan Streicher

Katie Vu

Helen Yeung