Recap courtesy of Eastern Michigan Athletic Communications

UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. (EMUEagles.com) – For the second consecutive week, the Eastern Michigan University women's golf team, who had not won a title since 2022, took home top honors as the Eagles captured victory at the 2025 Leadership & Golf Invitational, Sept. 15-16, at Chambers Bay Golf Club in University Place, Wash. Additionally, Janae Leovao, who had placed as a tournament runner-up four times prior to her arrival in Ypsilanti, made it two-for-two with the Eagles as she took medalist honors on the West Coast after winning The Southern one week prior in Georgia.

Eastern took home the top honor with a wire-to-wire performance that saw the Eagles shoot 5-under 859 (282-286-291) to edge Oregon State University of the title after the Beavers shot 1-over 863 (291-287-285) and pushed the Eagles to very end. San Jose State University also pushed the Eagles as the Spartans finished 2-over 866 (293-279-294) after pulling to within one stroke of the Eagles in the final round.

The win for Eastern stands as the 31st all-time victory for the program and marked just the fifth time the Eagles had captured back-to-back titles with the last coming during the 2021-22 season with victories at the Golden Grizzly Invitational in Rochester, Mich., Sept. 26-27, 2021, and the Shirley Spork Invitational at home in Ypsilanti, Oct. 4-5, 2021. With the Grizzly event being shortened to 36 holes, the back-to-back wins this season are the first in 54-hole events since the 2019-20 campaign with wins at the Shirley Spork Invitational, Sept. 30-Oct. 1, 2019, and the MAC Fall Preview, Oct. 7-8, 2019, in Silver Lake, Ohio.

To capture their second consecutive crown, the Eagles opened with a first-round 282, which stands as a program record, surpassing the 283 shots in the second round of The Southern one week prior. Eastern wasn't done there as the second-round 286 and third-round 291 ranked as the tied for fifth and tied for 15th-best rounds on the list. Overall, the Eagles took advantage of 58 birdies over three rounds to secure the win.

Individually, Janae Leovao (Oceanside, Calif./El Camino/Long Beach State), who had not won a collegiate event in 35 tournaments before winning last week, took home medalist honors for the second consecutive tournament as she shot 7-under 209 (72-68-69), a score that tied for the second-lowest in program history behind only the 204 recorded by Savannah de Bock (Ecaussinnes-d'enghien, Belgium/Institut de l'Enfant-Jésus-Lycée/Georgia) last year at the Golfweek Red Sky Classic. Leovao's win made her seventh different Eagle to win multiple tournaments in a career while becoming the first EMU player to record wins in back-to-back events. Just the third player to win multiple titles in the same season and the first since Stephany Fleet won two during the 2007-08 campaign, Leovao joined with Angelica Holman (Fort Pierce, Fla./Lincoln Park Academy/Daytona State/Georgia), who won the 2025 Women's National Golf Invitational, May 9-11, to mark the first time in program history an Eagle had won medalist honors in three consecutive tournaments.

The play of one player would not be enough to win a team crown and there was plenty of help from Leovao's teammates as both Baiyok Sukterm (Bang Yi, Thailand/Panitchayakan Rajdamnern Tech/Lindsey Wilson) and de Bock finished in the top seven while Jasmine Leovao (Oceanside, Calif./El Camino/Long Beach State) added a top 20 showing. Sukterm, who led the field with a 5-under showing on par-3s and was tops in birdies with 14, finished tied for fourth at 2-under 214 (70-69-75) to tie for the eighth-lowest 54-hole score in program history. De Bock, who is no stranger to strong showings, shot Even-par 216 (71-73-72) to tie for seventh with the tied for 12th-lowest score in EMU history. Jasmine Leovao shot 5-over 221 (69-77-75) to tie for 19th while Erina Tan (Belmont, Western Australia/Mount Lawley Senior) tied for 54th at 14-over 230 (75-76-79).

Eastern Michigan won its 30th team title in program history and its 26th title outright.

The Eagles, who won The Southern, Sept. 8-9, in Statesboro, Ga., captured back-to-back titles for the fifth time in program history and the first time since the 2021-22 season when they won the Golden Grizzly Invitational in Rochester, Mich. (Sept. 26-27, 2021) and the Shirley Spork Invitational at home (Oct. 4-5, 2021).
Eastern has now won back-to-back 54-hole tournaments for just the second time with the only other instance coming during the 2019-20 season. That year, the Eagles won titles at the Shirley Spork Invitational at home (Sept. 30-Oct. 1, 2019) and the MAC Fall Preview in Silver Lakes, Ohio (Oct. 7-8, 2019).

With its 25-stroke margin of victory at The Southern and the four-stroke win in the Leadership & Golf Invitational, the 29-stroke margin stands as the largest in back-to-back wins at EMU, surpassing the 21-stroke advantage after winning the Shootout at the Legends, Oct. 8-9, 2007, by 19 strokes and the Red Rocks Invitational, March 1-2, 2008, by two.

The 859 strokes recorded in the win broke the school record by 12 strokes, surpassing the 871 recorded last year at the Gators Invitational in Gainesville, Fla. (March 7-8, 2025). When measuring against par-72 tournaments, the 859 is 16 strokes better that the record set at The Southern last week.

All three rounds recorded by the team rank among the top 15 in program history with the 282 shot in round one ranking first, bettering the 283 record in round two at The Southern. The 286 shot in round two tied for fifth while the 291 final round tied for 15th.

Janae Leovao won her second consecutive tournament after finishing no higher than second place four times in her prior 35 tournaments. Her win made her the seventh different EMU player to record multiple wins in a career and the first to win multiple times in the same season since Stephany Fleet won twice in 2007-08.

Janae Leovao became the first EMU player to win back-to-back titles in program history and, coupled with teammate Angelica Holman's win at the Women's National Golf Invitational that closed out the 2024-25 season, EMU has now won three consecutive individual tournament titles for the first time in program history.

Three Eagles finished in the top 10 will all three posting scores that rank in the top 12 all-time at Eastern. Janae Leovao shot 209 to tie for second-best in EMU behind only Savannah de Bock's 204 recorded last year at the Golfweek Red Sky Classic while de bock shot 216 to tie for the 12th-best score in EMU history. Baiyok Sukterm carded a 214, which tied for the eighth-lowest in program history.

Eastern Michigan returns to action Monday-Wednesday, Sept. 22-24, when it heads to Red Sky Ranch Golf Course in Wolcott, Colo., to compete in the Golfweek Red Sky Classic. Additionally, both Janae Leovao and Jasmine Leovao will travel to LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla., Sept. 24-26, to play in the LPGA Q School Pre-Qualifier, which begins the road to qualification for the LPGA Tour.

FINAL Team Standings
1. Eastern Michigan • 282-286-291=859 (-5)
2. Oregon State • 291-287-285=863 (-1)
3. San Jose State • 293-279-294=866 (+2)
4. Cal Poly • 303-293-291=887 (+23)
5. UC Davis • 310-289-290=889 (+25)
6. Grand Canyon • 297-297-302=896 (+32)
6. Seattle • 300-298-298=896 (+32)
8. Washington • 291-304-302=897 (+33)
9. Colorado • 296-300-302=898 (+34)
9. Louisiana-Monroe • 306-301-291=898 (+34)
11. San Francisco • 305-307-288=900 (+36)
12. San Diego State • 304-303-297=904 (+40)
13. Long Beach State • 302-296-311=909 (+45)
14. Hawaii • 307-308-307=922 (+58)
15. Little Rock • 303-309-311=923 (+59)
16. Fresno State • 314-315-304=933 (+69)

Individual Results (Top 10)
1. Janae Leovao (EM) • 72-68-69=209 (-7)
2. Moa Anderson (SJS) • 72-65-73=210 (-6)
3. Kleopatra Kozakiewicz (SJS) • 68-68-77=213 (-3)
4. Baiyok Sukterm (EM) • 70-69-75=214 (-2)
4. Kyra Ly (OSU) • 73-71-70=214 (-2)
6. Raya Nakao (OSU) • 74-71-70=215 (-1)
7. Savannah de Bock (EM) • 71-73-72=216 (E)
7. Nicole Koong (CP) • 75-71-70=216 (E)
7. Michelle Ho (UCD) • 73-73-70=216 (E)
7. Eva Pett (SFU) • 74-73-69=216 (E)