Scoring
A world-class golf course and a tough field awaited Princeton as the Tigers opened the 2025-26 women’s golf season, and after 54 holes of competitive golf the Orange and Black know they are capable of going shot-for-shot with the nation’s best after posting a third place finish as a team at the Inverness Intercollegiate.
Princeton (+39) was behind two teams ranked in the preseason Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll in No. 15 Ohio State (+34) and No. 13 Florida (+37) and finished 10 shots ahead of No. 25 TCU (+49).
Ohio State and Florida are coming off 2024-25 seasons where they reached the NCAA Championship. Princeton’s performance at Inverness was ahead of four teams — TCU, FGCU, Illinois State and N.C. State — who reached NCAA Regionals alongside Princeton last season.
Inverness is a true test of golf, having hosted four U.S. Opens, two U.S. Senior Opens, two PGA Championships and a Solheim Cup among many other prestigious professional and amateur championships. It showed its teeth in Round One with the lowest team score a +14 from Florida.
The Tigers, who opened with a +21 as a team, rallied with a team score of +10 in the second round — which was the lowest team score of the middle round. They followed with a +8 in the final round.
All three of Princeton’s rookies in the lineup had stellar debuts as they opened their collegiate careers with Top-20 finishes.
Thanana Kotchasanmanee was Princeton’s top finisher, posting a T5 in her first tournament. She improved each round, closing with a 71 (E) that included birdies on two of her final three holes to move up into the top five.
Sarah Lim was consistent throughout her three rounds, shooting rounds of 74, 75, and 74 to finish T12 at 223 (+10). Her 10 total birdies over her 54 holes were second-most of any player in the field.
Luna Lu opened with a 79 (+8) but followed up with a 73 (+2) and 74 (+3) to finish in 20th place at 226 (+13). She played the par-5s in one-under for the tournament, averaging 4.83 which was the second-best score on the par-5s of any player in the field.
2025 Ivy League Player of the Year Catherine Rao posted back-to-back rounds of 73 (+2) to steady herself following an opening 82 (+11) and rally to finish T22 at 228 (+15). She showed tremendous resilience to close out her tournament, carding birdies on three of her final six holes to make a move up the leaderboard.
Princeton’s Results At The Inverness Intercollegiate
T5. Thanana Kotchasanmanee (+8; 77-73-71-221)
T12. Sarah Lim (+10; 74-75-74-223)
20. Luna Lu (+13; 79-73-74-226)
T22. Catherine Rao (+15; 82-73-73-228)
T43. Olivia Duan (+22; 81-79-75-235)
