Spartans Will Be Well Represented at U.S. Women’s Open

Rising sophomore Sarah Burnham and former All-Big Ten selection Liz Nagel qualify to play in the 70th U.S. Women’s Open held July 9-12.

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Rising Michigan State sophomore Sarah Burnham has qualified to play in the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open after winning her sectional qualifying tournament on Monday in Independence, Minnesota, with a 9-over-par 151 (74-77). Burnham won the tournament, which was held at the Windsong Farm Golf Course, by three strokes.

In addition, former Spartan and current Symetra and LPGA Tour rookie Liz Nagel qualified to play in the U.S. Women’s Open by shooting even-par 146 (73-73) in her sectional qualifying tournament on Monday at Westmoreland Country Club in Wilmette, Illinois. Nagel finished second, just one stroke behind Christina Foster of Canada. This will mark Nagel’s first appearance in the U.S. Women’s Open.

The 2015 U.S. Women’s Open is set for July 9-12 at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Burnham will be the fourth amateur to compete in the U.S. Women’s Open under MSU head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll (Allison Fouch in 2003; Laura Kueny in 2010; Christine Meier in 2012).

Burnham closed her first season in East Lansing with one of the best freshmen single-season scoring averages in program history at 76.27, which also ranked second on the team in 2014-15. She started in all 10 of MSU’s tournaments and finished third on the team with 54 birdies. In her first collegiate tournament, she placed a season-best sixth at the Mary Fossum Invitational.

Nagel, who achieved LPGA Tour status in 2015 following her performance at LPGA Qualifying School, has competed in five Symetra Tour events this season, including a career-best eighth-place finish at Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial April 16-19 in Fort Myers, Florida. A first-team All-Big Ten selection as a senior in 2013-14, Nagel helped lead the Spartans to their third Big Ten Championship in four years in 2014 and finished her final season with a career-low 74.43 scoring average, the eighth-lowest single-season average in school history. Her career average of 75.65 is fourth all-time at MSU.