Team Canada’s Marchand shoots bogey-free 67 to finish inside top 10 in Greenwood

Brittany Marchand
Bernard Brault , GOLF CANADA ©2017

GREENWOOD, S.C. – Brittany Marchand carded a 5-under-par 67 to finish T7 at The Links at the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic on Sunday at Stoney Point.

Marchand, an Orangeville, Ont. native, played an impressive bogey-free round to jump four spots up the leaderboard in Greenwood. The Team Canada Young Pro Squad member currently sits at No. 10 on the Volvik Race to the Card money list.

A final round 5-under par 67 propelled 11th year professional Vicky Hurst (Melbourne, Florida) to a victory at the tournament.

“This one feels very special. It’s Mother’s Day and my mom was caddying for me,” said Hurst, who carded four birdies, an eagle and a bogey today. “It was great to come out with a win with her on the bag. I played really solid all week and I was really proud of myself staying with a steady game.”

At 9-under par overall, the victory now gives Hurst eight career Symetra Tour wins, the most in Tour history. In addition, she becomes the first American to win this event in its five-year tenure.

“That sounds pretty good, I didn’t know that,” said Hurst, who captured her first Symetra Tour win at the 2008 Jalapeño Golf Classic. “Hopefully I can keep that up and continue to do that on the LPGA Tour.”

For Hurst’s mother Koko, seeing her daughter win on Mother’s Day was extra special.

“We’re looking for this moment for a long time,” said Koko. “I’m glad that she’s coming back from wrist injury and finally there’s no pain. Slowly she’s gaining confidence. She be where she belong. I just look at her as my daughter and want her to do well.”

Entering the day, Hurst was tied for the lead at 4-under par overall with Dottie Ardina (Laguna, Phil- ippines) and Jenny Haglund (Karlstad, Sweden). The two comprised the final pairing, with Hurst in the penultimate group.

Haglund was consistent the entire round, using three birdies and one bogey to shoot 2-under par 70 and finish tied for third with three others at 6-under par. As for Ardina, she approached No. 18 green having reached the par-5 in two, needing to make the putt for eagle.

“My caddy told me after I hit my second shot,” said Ardina, who went 4-under par today to finish in solo second at 8-under. “He didn’t tell me that before my second shot which is good, or I would have hit it somewhere else. I gave myself a good chance. Vicky really did good today.”

The win earns Hurst a winner’s share of $30,000 and launches her into the No. 1 position in the Volvik Race for the Card, with $34,007 made in two Symetra Tour starts this season. Meanwhile, a total of 10 players finished at 4-under par overall or better and they represented seven different countries.

A group of 11 players that started the season out on the Symetra Tour, but have competed in several LPGA Tour events in recent weeks through their conditional status, have shot up the chart based on their LPGA money list ranking so far this year.

Furthermore, seven individuals were in the field for the Self Regional Healthcare Foundation Women’s Health Classic, with four making the cut to play the weekend in Greenwood.

“Keep the game fresh and balance the two because you never know at the end of the year,” said rookie Maddie McCrary (Wylie, Texas), who shot 1-under par in the final round to finish tied for 22nd at 1-under overall. “If you’re in the top-10 here, or trying to get your full card through the LPGA, trying to balance them both is really hard.”

Of the four that made the cut, Marchand (Orangeville, Ontario) had the highest finish at 5-under overall. Not far behind was Daniela Iacobelli (Melbourne, Florida) at 3-under over- all and Lauren Kim (Los Altos, California) at 2-under overall.