Valery Plata wins first women's Patriot All-America Invitational

December 31, 2021 | by Jim Young of AmateurGolf.com

Michigan State senior makes history with three-stroke win at the Wigwam

Valery Plata made history Friday at the Wigwam Resort outside of Phoenix, becoming the first winner of the women's division of the Patriot All-America Invitational, dubbed "college golf's bowl game."

Plata claimed the Patriot's inaugural women's championship by stringing together three superb sub-par rounds of 67-65-66 for a 54-hole total 12-under 198, earning her a three-stroke victory over Erica Shepherd of Duke, who finished at 9-under 201 following a final round of 67.

Ashely Menne of Arizona State was four back at 8-under 202 while Kaleiya Romero of Pepperdine, who held a share of the lead after each of the first two rounds, slipped back into a tie for 17th at 3-under 207 following a disappointing final round of 75.

"Being the first winner of any event is pretty special," said Plata. "My mom is with me this week and she hasn't watched me play in a long time so getting this win in front of her was pretty exciting."

Valery Plata is the inaugural Women's Division Champion🏆#PatriotGolfAZ pic.twitter.com/V1aNNFzkTf
— Patriot All-America Invitational Golf Tournament (@ThePatriotAllAm) January 1, 2022

Plata, last year's Big 10 Player of the Year at Michigan State, didn't exactly get off to a dream start on Friday, making a double bogey on the par-5 third, a hole she had birdied the previous two days.

She shook off the cobwebs with birdies on holes 5 and 7 to get back to even for the day and made a clutch par save on the ninth which kept her at 8-under for the tournament.

While Shepherd couldn't get anything going with her putter, Plata hit the accelerator and birdied four of the last five holes for a closing 66 en route to the title.

"It was a hard day at the beginning but I'm happy things worked out the way they did," said Plata. "I wasn't hitting it all that great today but I hit some pretty good approach shots and got my putter going a bit."

Plata also made history in November when she won the inaugural Women's Amateur Latin America Championship at the Pilar Golf Club in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Results: Patriot All-America Women's

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Valery Plata	, Colombia	700	67-65-66=198
2	Ivy Shepherd	Peachtree City, GA	500	70-64-67=201
3	Ashley Menne	Surprise, AZ	400	70-66-66=202
T4	Natasha Andrea Oon	, Malaysia	400	69-65-69=203
T4	Sabrina Iqbal	San Jose, CA	400	67-69-67=203

View full results for Patriot All-America Women's

About the Patriot All-America Women's

Valery Plata wins first women's Patriot All-America Invitational

The Wigwam and the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA), in partnership with the Folds of Honor Foundation present the Patriot All- America Women's Invitational. It's one of the most unique events in all of golf. 42 top collegiate players named to...