Jenny Coleman, Yannik Paul, George Cunningham, Tom Whitney and Ellie Givens all post top-10s in tour action
By Gary Baines – 5/30/2021
By both quantity and quality standards, this Memorial Day weekend proved to be an impressive one for players with strong Colorado connections — especially for several who played their college golf in the state.
Here’s the rundown:
— Former University of Colorado golfer Jenny Coleman tied for ninth place in the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play by making it to the round of 16. That’s not bad for a player who was seeded 61st out of the 64 competitors in the field in Las Vegas.
Coleman, who finished an LPGA career-best third at the LPGA Drive On Championship in March, defeated Brooke Henderson (a 10-time LPGA champion) 1 up in Vegas and Angela Stanford (a seven-time LPGA winner) 2 and 1 in round-robin action, besides tying a match. But she fell to Ally Ewing in 19 holes in the round of 16. Ewing went on to win the title. (RESULTS)
— Another former CU golfer, Yannik Paul, tied for fourth place on Sunday in the European Challenge Tour’s Irish Challenge in Dublin. Paul went 69-71-71-66 for a 7-under-par 277, which left him two strokes behind Dutchman Doan Huizing, who prevailed in a playoff. Paul, a German who won the 2020 Arizona Open, earned 11,000 euros for his performance in Ireland. (SCORES)
— Two locals, Boulder County native George Cunningham and former Colorado resident and Air Force Academy golfer Tom Whitney both recorded top-10 finishes on Sunday in the Korn Ferry Tour’s Evans Scholars Invitational in Glenview, Ill.
Cunningham went 66-66 on the weekend to end up at 9-under-par 275, in fifth place, nine back of winner Cameron Young. It was Cunningham’s seventh top-11 finish of the 2020-21 wraparound season. Whitney shot 67-71-70-68 for a 276 total, placing eighth for his third top-10 of 2020-21. (SCORES)
— Former University of Denver golfer Ellie Givens tied for seventh place Sunday in the Ladies European Tour’s Ladies Italian Open in Piemonte. Givens carded scores of 66-75-71 to check in at 4-under-par 212, ending up three back of champion Lucie Malchirand of France. Givens earned 5,600 euros. (SCORES)