SAMFORD WOMEN’S GOLF TAKES THIRD PLACE AT LADY COLONEL COLLEGIATE; HUNT TIES FOR FIRST

--- The Bulldogs’ Hunt, Stanier and Troche all finish ranked in the top 10 ---

 

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. --- The Samford University women’s golf team fired a second-round total of 300 on Tuesday to improve to third place on the final day of the 2008 LDR Investments Lady Colonel Collegiate held at The Bridges Golf Club.

 

“I was really pleased with how we played today,” said Samford head coach Woodie Eubanks. “We didn’t play that well yesterday, but we really came out and competed hard to end up with a good finish. I’m proud of how this team came back today and we only finished four shots out of second place.”

 

The Bulldogs concluded the tournament with a final team score of 611 (311-300), and the top-five finish was their third of the season. Samford has competed in four fall tournaments this year and has finished among the top-five teams in three events.

 

So far this season, the Bulldogs have earned the championship title of the Fred Marx Invitational, placed third at the LDR Investments Lady Colonel Collegiate and registered a fourth-place finish at the 2008 Great Smokies Intercollegiate. Samford’s average finish this season is sixth place.

 

“We have a really good team this year and if we continue to work hard and get better, then I believe we can make some things happen,” Eubanks said. “Right now, our problem is consistency and we just need to put everything together in the same tournament.”

 

Samford’s Sara Hunt continued her stellar play Tuesday and finished the second round with a team-best score of 71. The Bulldogs’ junior from Columbia, Tenn., ended the 36-hole competition in a three-way tie for first place with McNeese State’s duo of Lacy McKinley and Maggie Welch.

 

On the second hole of the championship playoff, McNeese State’s McKinley bested both Hunt and Welch to win the individual title.

 

The Bulldogs’ Hunt finished the two-day competition with a final score of 146 (75-71). Samford’s Katelyn Stanier earned the team’s second best score of the week with a 152 (77-75) and was followed closely by teammates Maria Troche (76-77?153), Sara Butts (83-77?160) and Heather Arnold (87-83?170).

 

Samford ended the tournament with three players ranked in the top-10. In addition to Hunt’s first-place finish, Stanier placed sixth and Troche earned a ninth-place finish.

 

The team winner of the 2008 LDR Investments Collegiate was McNeese State. The Cowgirls fired a tournament-best round of 295 on Tuesday to earn a 10-stroke victory over second-place Sam Houston State. Nicholls State, the official host of the 10-team competition finished seventh.

 

The Samford University women’s golf team will next be in action Nov. 3-4 in Birmingham, Ala., as the Bulldogs compete in the 2008 UAB Fall Intercollegiate Tournament.

 

 

 

Western Carolina Women’s Golf Finishes Tied for 11th at Lady Pirate Intercollegiate

Freshman Blaire Minter finishes tied for 12th to lead the Catamounts

 

Greenville, N.C. ? Western Carolina carded its best 18-hole score of the three-day Lady Pirate Intercollegiate Tuesday to advance three spots in the final finishing order, tying for 11th place overall at the par 71, 5,939-yard Greenville Country Club (GCC). Freshman Blaire Minter rallied eight positions to lead the Catamounts with a 12th-place finish.

 

Aided by the lowest team score ever turned in by a women’s team at the GCC with a 285 on Monday, the Georgia State Panthers claimed the team championship by 17 strokes over host East Carolina, which finished second at 899. GSU’s 882 was tied for the sixth-lowest 54-hole score in the event’s history while also marking the lowest women’s team score in GCC history.

 

Miami (Fla.) finished at 913 in third, followed by Nebraska (917) and Southern Conference foe, Elon in fifth at 920.

 

Minter played most of the final day at even par, hovering around the individual top 10 leader board before consecutive bogies on No. 8 and No. 9 ? the 16th and 17th holes played, respectively, after teeing off on No. 11 ? dropped her to two over, finishing her final round at 73. She recorded a three-day total of 226, her best collegiate, 54-hole event score.

 

After making the turn at seven-over, sophomore Josefine Sundh played the front nine at even par to shoot 78 on the day. The Kumla, Sweden, native finished the three-round event in a five-way tie for 35th at 233. Her countryman, junior Desiree Karlsson, also fired a 78 on the final 18 to finish two strokes in arrears at 235, tied for 47th.

 

Freshman Rachel Nelson shot her best round of the tournament on Tuesday, shooting 76 to come home at 237, tied for 56th overall.

 

Rounding out Western’s scorers were freshmen Ashley Shinn (93rd, 258), who was competing as a part of the scoring five for the first-time in her collegiate career, and individual Christina Amoriello (101st, 284).

 

Western Carolina returns to action this weekend as it travels to Kiawah Island, S.C., and to the Oak Point Golf Club for the Edwin Watts/Palmetto Intercollegiate, hosted by the College of Charleston. Last season, Western finished in eighth place with a three-round score of 935. The Catamounts posted a team-best, fourth-place finish at the event in 2006 after shooting 900, the sixth-best, 54-hole score in school history.

 

 

T11th  Western Carolina        315 311 305  931

T12th  Blaire Minter            73  80  73  226

T35th  Josefine Sundh           78  77  78  233

T47th  Desiree Karlsson         83  74  78  235

T56th  Rachel Nelson            81  80  76  237

 93rd  Ashley Shinn             83  91  84  258

101st  Christina Amoriello (I)  97  91  96  284