Ekey Handed Heartbreaking Decision As Furman Falls Short At NCAA East Regional
Baton Rouge, La. ? The Lady Paladin golf team struggled to an 11th place finish with a final round 301 and Kathleen Ekey saw her shot for an individual bid to the NCAA Championships slip away with a bizarre set of playoff circumstances at the NCAA East Regional on Saturday.
Despite Furman falling short of a team bid to the NCAA Finals, Ekey (67-71-74=212) earned a spot in a sudden death playoff with East Carolina’s Lene Krogg for the final individual bid after finishing the three-round event at four-under-par.
Ekey and Krogg were forced to wait until all groups finished the third round before the playoff could begin. The pair started the playoff at the 10th tee at 6:37 p.m. CT. Ekey drove her tee shot just wide of the right side of the fairway while Krogg’s long drive left her just 95 yards to the green. Before the two could play their approach shots, the skies opened and lightning strikes forced everyone into the clubhouse.
Following a 1:10 minute delay, the golfers returned to the course fighting impending darkness to complete at least one playoff hole. Ekey put her second shot on the green approximately 27 feet from the cup. Krogg analyzed her second shot for an extended period of time before landing it wide left of the green. After more deliberation and a ruling from an official, Krogg’s chip sailed past the hole more than 30 feet from the cup.
With Ekey in good position to take the hole with her next putt, the sprinkler system on the green activated. Tournament officials rushed to cover the sprinklers and deflect water away from the green. Despite their successful efforts, Krogg declared it too dark to hit her putt giving her the NCAA bid based on her better score for Saturday’s 18 holes. Furman head coach Jen Hanna consoled a heartbroken Ekey after she was eliminated by the little used NCAA tiebreaker.
“It shouldn’t have ended this way for Kathleen,” said Hanna. “She deserved a chance to earn a bid on the course and steps need to be taken to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen again.”
The Lady Paladins’ 13-over-par final round left the squad three spots out of the top eight and an NCAA Championship bid. Sophomore Blair Lamb
(71-72-72=215) ended the tournament with an even-par final round.
Starting on the back nine, Lamb birdied three holes on her way to a third straight round of par or better.
Corrine Carr carded a team-best four birdies and overcame a triple bogey on Saturday to post a three-over-par 75. She finished in a tie with teammate Theresa Paik who struggled to an eight-over-par 80.
Duke (291-281-272=844) notched a final round 272 to over take UCLA
(281-283-282=846) and claim the East Regional title. Wake Forest, Auburn, Purdue, North Carolina, Alabama and Louisville rounded out the top eight which advance to the NCAA Championships.
Sydnee Michaels (66-68-69=203) of UCLA held on to claim individual medalist honors for the second-pace Bruins.
T11 Furman 284 290 301 875
T9 Kathleen Ekey 67 71 74 212
T18 Blair Lamb 71 72 72 215
T62 Corrine Carr 75 74 75 224
T62 Theresa Paik 71 73 80 224
T102 Ashley Baker 82 76 80 238
WCU Women’s Golf Finishes 19th at NCAA East Regional; Cards Program Post-season Low Round, 54-Hole Score
Baton Rouge, La. ? The Western Carolina women’s golf team saved its best for last, shooting a program post-season low round of 297 on Saturday to turn in a team card of 906 for the tournament to finish 19th overall at the NCAA East Regional held at the University Club. Freshman Desiree Karlsson shot a team-low, two-under 70 over the final 18 holes to finish tied for 23rd lead the Catamounts.
In just its second NCAA post-season appearance all-time, Western surpassed its previous round performance of 913, which included a low 18-hole round of 300. Also, Karlsson’s two-under 70 is the lowest round carded by a Catamount all-time in an NCAA Championship event.
Top-ranked Duke rallied from third after two rounds to claim the team championship at the regional, edging out UCLA, which held at least a share of the lead over 36 holes, by two strokes, 844-to-846. Wake Forest placed third with a 54-hole score of 858, followed by Auburn (861) in fourth, Purdue and North Carolina tied for fifth (862), Alabama in seventh (868) and Louisville (870) rounding out the eight teams to advance to the NCAA National Championship.
Fellow Southern Conference members, Furman and the College of Charleston, finished tied for 11th and 16th, respectively.
Individually, UCLA’s Sydnee Michaels carded a 13-under, 203, to claim the individual medalist honors three strokes ahead of teammate Tiffany Joh and Duke’s Amanda Blumenherst at 206.
With two birdies and a bogey on both the front and back nine, Karlsson turned in WCU’s first-ever below-par round with 70 on Saturday afternoon. Both front nine birdies came on par 4 holes, while the pair on the back came on par 3’s.
Junior Malin Fryk was WCU’s second-best finisher, placing tied for 70th after shooting a two-over 74 on the final round. The Trollhattan, Sweden, native rallied from six-over after carding bogey on six of her first 11 holes by posting four-straight birdies on hole 13 through 16. Freshman Elin Mickelsson finished 92nd equaling her best round of 76 on the final 18 holes, with senior Bianca Melone shooting her best round of 77 to place tied for 95th. Rounding out WCU’s performances was junior Kandy Carland who finished tied for 97th.
Senior Bianca Melone concludes her four-year playing career at Western Carolina following Saturday’s final round at the NCAA East Regional. The Orlando, Fla., native finished ranked sixth all-time on the WCU career scoring chart with a 78.36 stroke average in 107 career rounds. She recorded nine, top 10 finishes during her collegiate career and garnered her first-ever All-Southern Conference accolades earlier this season at the conference championship. Also during her career, Melone was named to the National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) Division I All-American Scholar team and last summer, she qualified for the United States Women's Amateur Public Links Championship (USWAPL), which was held at the Walking Stick Golf Course in Pueblo, Colo.
Western returns four of its top five golfers from this season next year including Fryk, who currently leads the school’s all-time career scoring chart and Karlsson, who was named SoCon Freshman of the Year this season.
19 Western Carolina 301 308 297 906 +42
T23 Desiree Karlsson 72 74 70 216 E
T70 Malin Fryk 75 77 74 226 +10
92 Elin Mickelsson 76 79 76 231 +15
T95 Bianca Melone 78 78 77 233 +17
T97 Kandy Carland 78 79 78 235 +19
Cougars Finish 16th at NCAA East Regional
The College of Charleston shot a 296 in the final round to finish 16th at the NCAA East Regional held at the par-72, 6,403 yard University Club in Baton Rouge, La. Duke won the tournament, advancing to the NCAA Championships along with the remaining top eight schools.
The Cougars finished with a three-round 27-over 891 total. Number one seed Duke won the tournament after carding a 20-under 844.
Steffi Kirchmayr fired a 70 on the final day to pace the Cougars with a 215 for the tournament and finished tied for 26th. Dinah Plyler followed with a 73 on the day to finish with a 227 and tie for 48th. Megan Miller shot 76 on the day to finish with a 220 for the tournament and a tie at 74th. Emily Rapp shot a tournament total of 228 and a tie at 81st, and Fiona Puyo finished with a total of 233 for a tie at 95th.
The top eight teams advance to the 2007 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships May 22-25 in Daytona Beach, Fla.: