Lalita Patipaksiri, a junior at UCI (University of California, Irvine), shot a final round 73 (1) to finish in a tie for 8th place at the Juli Inkster Spartan Invite, contested at Almaden Golf and Country Club, San Jose, California.
UCI finished in a tie for 7th with San Jose State University. California won the event with a +17 score of 881 for the 54 hole event.
Lalita shot 79-72 in the 36 hole first day of competition. In the second round Lalita found her “groove” and had 2 birdies to go along with 2 bogies for an even par 72. In her final round today, the talented player from Cypress, CA., had 2 birdies and 3 bogies for a +1 (73). Her final score was 79-72-73 (224) +8 for the 54 hole event.
Lalita has always hit the ball very straight and has relied on her short game to assist her when she misses a green. Lalita has changed her putting grip within the last month and she is getting used to it. According to her long time coach, George Pinnell, “Lalita had a really strong left hand grip and we moved it into a more neutral position to keep the face square a little longer in the stroke.” After the round Lalita told Pinnell “everything worked pretty well and that when she missed a green she was only a foot or so away and her short game was on, so I made a lot of 1 putt pars.”
UCI will compete in an event hosted by Fresno State University starting on Monday, March 7, 2011.