The U.S. Virgin Islands’ two representatives in the World University Games Golf Championship finished strong Friday to put the territory 12th overall in the 17-team field in the women’s division of the competition.
Amira Alexander and Ali Prazak were picked to represent the territory in the biannual tournament. This year’s competition was held in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
Alexander, who was born on St. Croix and moved to the mainland at the age of 4, finished in a four-way tie for 27th out of 62 entries representing 17 different countries. She finished with a four-round total of 303, 15 over par, putting her in a tie with Tan Hilleferah of the U.S., Laure Castelain of France and Amy Farrell of Italy.
After shooting an opening round 73, Alexander scored consecutive 77s before finishing with a 76.
Prazak saved her best for last, firing a 75 on the final round to wind up in a three-way tie for 36th with Rebecca Suenderhauf of Switzerland and Michelle WingYee Cheung of China. Her four rounds were 78-77-77-76 for a total of 307, 19 over par.
Prazak, a 2010 graduate of Antilles School on St. Thomas, graduated from Campbell University in North Carolina, which she attended on a golf scholarship. She learned the game as a member of the junior golf program at Mahogany Run Golf Course and recently took a job running a junior golf program in Connecticut.
Individual first-place honors in the women’s division were shared by Chinese golfer Tiffany Chan and Marta Sanz of Spain, who both finished with 10-under-par scores of 278.
Together Alexander and Prazak scored a combined 610 over the four days of the tournament, 34 under par, to finish 12th in the 17-team field. The Virgin Islands finished ahead of Malaysia, Great Britain, Switzerland, Thailand and China.
The winning women’s team was Spain, with a 560, 16 under par, followed by the U.S. at 564, 12 under. Spain also won the men’s division, where the scores of its three top golfers totaled 843, 21 under par. France was second at 863, one under.
