Luafalealo’s late heroics win GCU Invitational

Monday, February 27

Phoenix, Ariz.

Grand Canyon

GCU Invitational

Photo by: Zach Campbell

2/27/2023 6:11:00 PM | Women's Golf, Paul Coro

Results Photo Gallery

GCU junior claims outright title after 3-way playoff hole tiebreaker

By: Paul Coro

Grand Canyon golfer Lani Luafalealo made it a point to change her mentality and come back stronger after being named an individualist for the GCU Invitational following the team's qualifying rounds.

That regained focus and vision saw the Lopes junior birdie five of her last 10 holes in Tuesday's final round to climb into a tie for first place and win the GCU Invitational after a three-way playoff hole tiebreaker.

Luafalealo entered the third round in first place at 7 under par, but the Hawaii native saw that score quickly lower to 3 under after three straight bogeys to open the day. Luafalealo settled in with five straight pars before dropping birdies on five of the last 10 holes to force a three-way playoff at 8 under with Louisiana Monroe's Alessia Mengoni and Montana State's Scarlet Weidig-Velazquez.

"I'd like to thank my mom, who is not here but wished me good luck as well as my family back home," Luafalealo said in her winning speech to players, coaches and spectators. "I would like to thank my coaches for making each day better than it already is, and my teammates for being supporters and always inspiring me to do better than the day before."

Her closing-round momentum carried over into the playoff hole, where she nearly holed out for eagle on No. 18 before making a short birdie putt to win medalist honors. It's the third time in the past four years GCU has claimed the individual title, with Alexis Linam winning in 2020 and 2022. It's the fifth time overall, as Charlotte Jaengkit won back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015.

"I am so proud of Lani," GCU head coach Lauren Giesecke said. "Her first collegiate win. She's had a second place before, and she has shown us so many times over and over again that she can do this. I think it took her realizing that she can and that she belongs here and as a college tournament champion."

Louisiana Monroe took first place in the team race at 19 under par, crushing the previous GCU Invitational team-record score of 4 under that the Lopes set last year. Northern Arizona placed behind them at 6 under par for second place.

GCU placed third out of 17 schools at 4 under par. While Luafalealo's score did not contribute to the team score, the Lopes still saw three top-15 finishes and placed every golfer in the top 35 of the 95-player field. Junior Constanza Guerrero earned seventh place with a 4-under scorecard, tallying five birdies for the top-10 finish.

Junior Carly Strole tied for 10th at 2 under, totaling seven birdies and playing her best round of the tournament at 70 on Tuesday. Junior Becca Tschetter climbed 18 spots to tie for 13th, shooting a third-round and team-best 68 to improve to even par for the tourney.

Senior Carmen Belmonte tied for 26th at 4 over while freshman Ryan Flynn tied for 32nd at 5 over. GCU fielded all of its nine golfers on the roster, with sophomores Kailey Bass, Diletta Facchini and freshman Amelia Curtis competing as individuals. Bass tied for 17th at 2 over, Curtis tied for 49th at 10 over and Facchini tied for 53rd at 11 over.

The third-place team finish was the second straight of the season for the Lopes, who took third out of 13 schools in the Stockton Invitational on Feb. 6-7. GCU has five more regular-season tournaments this spring, the next being in Boulder City, Nevada, for the Jackrabbit Invitational hosted by South Dakota State on March 13-14.

Day 1 recap

Luafalealo may not have played GCU Golf Course like she wanted during team qualifying, but timing was everything for the Lopes junior to deliver some of her best swings when the scores counted most on Monday.

Luafalealo, an individual entry for the GCU Invitational, leads the tournament by two strokes with a two-round score of 7 under par after she could not crack the Lopes' top five during team qualifying rounds last week.

GCU is still faring well without Luafalealo's score counting in team competition and will enter Tuesday's final round in third place, needing to make up 13 strokes on leader Louisiana Monroe. But Luafalealo is aiming to be the third GCU Invitational home-team medalist since 2020 after scorching the Phoenix course with rounds of 4-under 68 and 3-under 69 on the tournament's first day. She was the only player to shoot sub-70 twice Monday.

Lani Luafalealo

"It was just such a letdown to not be in the lineup, so I decided I needed to change my mentality and come back stronger," Luafalealo said. "This was the only way to do it. We still have one round to go and anything can happen within 18 holes.

"I'm going to still be a team player no matter what. I'm going to hold them accountable, and I'm going to hold myself accountable to lift each other up because this is our home tournament. There is no way we can't defeat this course. We've done it many times, and we need to do it again."

The Hawaii native began the day steady with eight consecutive pars, feeling like she left birdie opportunities with missed putts before carding an eagle on the par-4 sixth hole. Sitting 53 yards away, Luafalealo chipped in her second shot without being able to see the ball roll into the cup.

"It was far and uphill and I'm really short, so the spectators were able to see it and I thought that meant it was 1 foot away until they said, 'It went in!' " she said. "It was a confidence booster. It reassured me that I can do it. I just needed to be calm and steady instead of rushing."

Her changed outlook led to a birdie on the next hole, the par-5 seventh hole. She finished the first round with birdies on two of her final four holes to match her collegiate career low round of 68.

Luafalealo carried the momentum to the second round, where she shook off a second-hole bogey (at the 17th hole) and birdied the par-5 18th hole to stay in the leader hunt. As others fell off, Luafalealo stayed strong and followed two more bogeys with birdies in a six-birdie round.

"We know we can shoot those scores," Giesecke said. "She did it on our her own practically all day, being in that individual spot. I hope this is such a huge confidence booster for her because we know she can do it and finally she is doing it. I hope she continues it and takes home a trophy."

Constanza Guerrero

Guerrero provided Luafalealo close company on the individual leaderboard while leading the Lopes' team effort.

Guerrero finished the first two rounds in a tie for sixth place at 2 under par on the strength of her opening 3-under round. After taking 10th in last year's home tournament that GCU won, the Spaniard birdied both of the course's par-5 holes and two of the par-4 holes in the first round. Guerrero reached as low as 5 under after consecutive birdies early in her second round on Nos. 3 and 4 before a double bogey created distance with Luafalealo's lead.

Strole paired even-par rounds after making a first-round eagle and closing with 11 consecutive pars to be in a tie for 14th place. The team scoring was rounded out by Flynn (3 over, tied for 26th), who shot a back-nine 33 in the first round, and Belmonte and Tschetter tying for 31st at 4 over.

More GCU individual entries cracked the top 30 of the 95-player field. Bass opened with a 1-under 71 and finished in a 21st-place tie at 2 over Curtis is tied for 26th at 3 over. Facchini also is tied for 47th at 6 over.

GCU was in second place after a 1-under first round and is capable of shooting lower. The Lopes posted a 9-under round on their way to the team title last year.

"We gave a little bit away in that second round, but we definitely left shots out there," Giesecke said. "Coming into the final round, they're going to be hungry to get those shots back. We've come back before, so I know this team can. They're big fighters and they're always going to grind it out to get those birdies and pars. We didn't leave ourselves in the best position, but it's still in our reach. This is our home course, so they'll fight."