The Michigan women’s golf team had one goal on its mind this weekend as it headed to the Big Ten Championships in Madison: finish in the top five.

But after a disappointing team performance in the first two rounds, the Wolverines found themselves in ninth place with virtually no chance of achieving that goal.

Michigan finished the tournament in eighth place, posting rounds of 311-301-299-317.

“Based on the fact that our scoring average was about 301 this year, I was disappointed with our finish,” Michigan coach Cheryl Stacy said.

But in collegiate golf, there are two scores that matter — the overall team score, and each player’s individual score. And while the Wolverines found themselves struggling throughout the weekend, senior captain Ashley Bauer found herself battling for an individual Big Ten title.

Bauer, who held the Michigan record for lowest career scoring average at 75.98 coming into this weekend, appeared to want to prove herself not only as the best golfer in program history, but as one of the best in the nation as well. After double bogeying her second-to-last hole of the first round to finish with a 2-over 74, Bauer went into the second round on Friday determined to improve her score and move up the leaderboard.

But she did much more than that, birdying five out of her first six holes.

“It felt like there wasn’t a putt I couldn’t make, there wasn’t a shot I couldn’t hit,” Bauer said.

With another two birdies and no bogeys on the back nine, Bauer’s near-perfect round put her into the record books yet again. Her seven-under, 65, shattered the previous Michigan single-round record of 68, a mark that Bauer shared with four others. She also set a Big Ten record for lowest score recorded in a round, and tied the course record at Wisconsin’s University Ridge Golf Course.

“It was a fun round,” Bauer said. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything like that. I wasn’t concentrating on my score, I didn’t really know where I was at. I just let whatever was going to happen, happen.”

After another solid round on Saturday with a one-under 71, Bauer began Sunday’s final round with a one-stroke lead over Laura Gonzalez of Purdue.

“I knew that this could be the last round that I played for Michigan,” Bauer said about Sunday’s round. “But I knew I had to keep composed out there and that I had another 18 holes of golf to play.”

Battling a stiff wind, temperatures in the forties, and on-and-off rain showers throughout the day, Bauer birdied three out of the first six holes on Sunday and quickly jumped out to a commanding three-stroke lead.

But it didn't last. Bauer double-bogeyed the par-four 18th, and just like that Gonzalez was back to within one stroke of the lead.

Bauer couldn’t quite get it back together, as she shot a two-over 38 on her final nine holes to finish with a final round score of one-over 73. Gonzalez finished the day with a 3-under 69, good enough for a three-stroke victory and the Big Ten individual title.

“It’s hard to win tournaments with double bogeys, and I had two of them this weekend,” Bauer said. “That’s going to kill you every time.”

Although it wasn’t the finish that Bauer hoped for, her performance is one that will not be forgotten any time soon. Her final tally of five-under, 283, destroyed the previous U-M 72-hole record of 291, and her second-place finish matched the best ever by a Wolverine in the conference tournament.

With only a slim possibility of Michigan receiving a bid to play in the regional championships, her record-setting performance will likely be the cap to what has been a brilliant career.

“It’s been a great four years,” she said. “It’s been a dream come true, as they say.”