Elon third at JMU/Eagle Landing Invitational
ORANGE PARK, Fla. – With winds picking up throughout the day, the Elon women's golf team continued to hold down third place out of 16 teams after two rounds of the JMU/Eagle Landing Invitational on Saturday.
The Phoenix carded a team score of 593 (293-300) through two rounds of action and sits four strokes back of team leader Georgia State (292-297=589).
Leading the way for the maroon and gold is Sunna Vidisdottir. Vidisdottir shot a 3-under-par 69, including four birdies, on day two. Through two round, she is tied for second place among 94 players with a 144 (75-69). She is just one stroke back of individual leader Cassie Rushing (73-70=143) of Southern Illinois.
In a tie for 15th is Emily Brooks. Brooks followed up Friday's round of 69 with a 78 on Saturday, giving her a two-round mark of 147.
Kathryn Buckingham will enter the final round in a tie for 24th. Buckingham has a two-day mark of 149 (73-76) after posting one par on Saturday.
With a score of 153 (76-77), Kelsey Badmaev is tied for 39th. Badmaev had two birdies on Saturday.
Katie Partridge's 155 (76-79) has her tied for 50th with one round to play.
Playing as an individual, Taylor Wilkerson is tied for 39th with a mark of 153 (79-74). Wilkerson notched one birdie over her 18 holes on Saturday.
Between Georgia State and Elon is Delaware. The Blue Hens are just one stroke ahead of the Phoenix with a 592 (291-301).
Tied for fourth with a 596 are Samford and Southern Illinois.
The first member of the Phoenix squad will tee off at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday morning for the final round of competition.
Samford tied for fourth at JMU/Eagle Landing Invitational
ORANGE PARK, Fla. – The Samford University women’s golf team turned in the best round of the day Saturday at the 2014 JMU/Eagle Landing Invitational as the Bulldogs carded a tournament-best 293 and vaulted all the way from 12th to fourth place at the 16-team event being held at the Eagle Landing Golf Club.
In Saturday’s second round of action, Samford posted a total team score of 293, which proved to be two strokes better than the next-best competitor, Daytona State College. The Bulldogs also shot 10 strokes better than they did in Friday’s opening round of play, when they posted a 303.
Heading into Sunday’s final round of action, Samford trails first-place Georgia State by just seven strokes and second-place Delaware by four strokes. On Saturday, the Bulldogs picked up four strokes on Georgia State and eight on Delaware.
Samford’s Sydney Needham blistered the course in the second round of play and posted a stellar 2-under-par 70. She is currently tied for fourth place in the individual standings and sits just two strokes behind tournament leader Cassie Rushing of Southern Illinois.
Needham heads into Sunday’s third round of action with a 36-hole score of 145 (75-70), while Rushing owns a two-day total of 143 (73-70).
Samford’s Natalie Mitchell is tied for 15th place in the individual standings with a total mark of 147 (74-73). The Bulldogs also received identical tallies of 3-over-par 75 on Saturday from Bailey Gray and Alex Jasper. Gray boasts a 36-hole score of 150 (75-75), while Jasper sits at 154 (79-75). True freshman Arin Eddy is rounding out Samford’s scoring with a 165 (83-82).
Sunday’s final round of competition is slated to begin at 7 a.m. (CST) at the Eagle Landing Golf Club. More specifically, Samford is scheduled to begin teeing off at 7:45 a.m.
Western Carolina tied for sixth at JMU/Eagle Landing Invitational
ORANGE PARK, Fla. – Western Carolina slipped two spots in the team standings on Saturday, entering Sunday’s final round tied for sixth place, just five strokes outside of the top five. The Catamounts followed up their opening-round 295 with a team score of 306 for a two-day score of 601.
Catamount sophomores Kristin Swindell and Kim Mitchell are tied for 24th overall to lead the squad, both with matching scores of 5-over-par 149. Mitchell, WCU’s first-round leader, was poised to make the turn at 1-over-par before a double-bogey on the par-4 ninth. Three bogeys on the back were countered with a second birdie of the second round to leave the Woodbridge, Va., product at 5-over.
Swindell slipped into a tie for 24th after shooting a 4-over-par 76 on Saturday. The Bradenton, Fla., native started her day at 2-under with a pair of birdies through her first five holes before consecutive bogeys left her even at the turn. Swindell carded two bogeys and a double-bogey on the back for the 4-over-par round.
Sophomore Mariah Hopkins made a move from a tie for 51st after the opening round into 34th, chopping two strokes off her second-round score to shoot 75 for a two-day total of 152. The Greensboro, N.C., native carded four birdies on Saturday with eight pars.
Rounding out WCU’s scoring five were sophomore Taylor Allison in a tie for 39th and freshman Olivia Landino in a tie for 74th. Allison shot a second-round 6-over-par 78, while Landino struggled through a second-day 87 for a two-round total of 162.
Playing unattached as individuals, WCU freshman Ashley Thompson is tied for 59th with a two-round score of 157 (77-80), while classmate Bethany Galloway is tied for 77th (81-82=163).Thompson made the turn at 2-over-par but finished with five holes of bogey or worse on the back to shoot 6-over on the back nine, 8-over for the day. Galloway added two more birdies to her tournament total, entering the final round with six overall.
Paired with golfers from Daytona State and Morehead State, WCU’s scoring five tees off on Sunday on the front nine beginning at 8 a.m. The two Catamount individuals, Thompson (9:48 a.m.) and Galloway (10:15 a.m.), go off on the back nine for their final rounds.
Wofford 10th at JMU/Eagle Landing Invitational
ORANGE PARK, Fla. – Junior Lauren Dunbar carded a 2-over-par 74 on Saturday in round two of the JMU/Eagle Landing Invitational and is tied for 10th place, four shots back of the lead.
Dunbar continued her consistent play, posting just three bogeys to go with one birdie. The birdie came on the par-4, 361-yard fourth, and the junior shot a 1-over 37 on both the front and back nine. She added 14 pars and has totaled 30 through the first 36 holes of the tournament.
Along with Dunbar, sophomore Maegan Higgins was a bright spot, carding Wofford's best second-round score of 1-over-par 73. Higgins came in with three straight birdies on Nos. 16, 17 and 18 to shoot 3-under 33 on the back nine. She is tied for 15th at 3 over par, a stroke back of Dunbar.
Cassie Rushing of Southern Illinois holds the 36-hole lead. Rushing shot a 2-under 70 on Saturday and is 1-under-par for the tournament, a stroke ahead of Daytona State's Tiffany Chan and Elon's Sunna Vidisdottir.
As a team, Wofford dropped to 10th place after beginning the day tied for sixth. The Terriers combined to shoot an 18-over-par 306, just the ninth-best round of the day. Senior Anne Marie Covar shot a 7-over 79, freshman Katy Funk shot an 8-over 80 and freshman Allyson Markiewicz came in with a 9-over 81. Still, only 10 strokes separate the Terriers from fourth place.
Georgia State took over the team lead with a 9-over 297, four strokes better than first-round leader Delaware. GSU is 13-over-par, three shots ahead of the Blue Hens.
Patricia Lee and Kelly Hwang of Georgetown were disqualified after the round, eliminating the Hoyas from contention in team play.
Sunday's final round begins at 8 a.m. Wofford tees off in the first five groups from the 10th hole.
UNCG 15th at JMU/Eagle Landing Invitational
ORANGE PARK, Fla. – UNCG sophomore women’s golfer Sammie Buchanan sits just three shots off the lead after 36 holes of the JMU/Eagle Invitational on Saturday at the Eagle Landing Golf Club. The final round of the three-day, 54-hole event will begin Sunday morning. The Spartans are set to tee off in the final round from 8:45-9:21 a.m.
Buchanan continued her strong spring play, as she sits in a tie for 10th place overall with a 2-over-par 146. She opened the tournament with an even-par 72 Friday before carding a 2-over par 74 in windy conditions Saturday. She trails Cassie Rushing of Southern Illinois by only three strokes, as Rushing holds the individual lead after two rounds with a 1-under par 143. Buchanan is coming off a third-place showing at the Kiawah Invitational, the best finish of her career.
Junior Berglind Bjornsdottir held the lead after the first round when she posted a career-low score of 3-under par 69. Bjornsdottir sits in a tie for 34th place after 36 holes with an 8-over-par 143 (69-83). Freshman Kristin Powers had the Spartans’ second-lowest score Saturday, recording a 5-over-par 77.
The Spartans as a team sit in 15th place overall with a 622 (306-318). Georgia State holds the team lead with a 13-over-par 589, while Delaware is second (592) and Elon is third (593).
Chattanooga finishes 11th at 3M Jaguar Invitational
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Senior Jordan Britt finished tied for fourth at the 3M Jaguar Intercollegiate. Britt closed with an even-par 72 on her second 18 of the day to end up at 7-over for the tournament at 223.
It’s her fourth top-five of the season and fifth top-10. She opened with rounds of 76 and 75 as the team ended up 11th with a 936 total over the 54 holes at Forest Hills Golf Club.
The Mocs could not overcome a slow start. The final round 299 (+11) was the second-best 18 of the afternoon round. Chattanooga ended up one stroke behind Coastal Carolina (935).
Britt’s 72 was one better than Emily McLennan’s 73, with Agathe Sauzon and Isabella Loza each posting 77 for the afternoon score. McLennan was second to Britt in the team scoring, tying for 30tha (233).
No. 14 Vanderbilt (896) came back from a one-stroke deficit to capture the team title by 10 over Mercer (906). East Tennessee was a distant third (911). Mercer’s Lacey Fears was the wire-to-wire winner at 1-over-par 217. Illinois’ Samantha Postillion was runner-up at 221.
The event was slated to be a three-day affair. Inclement weather expected on Sunday forced the field to play 36 holes Saturday to complete the full 54 holes.
Chattanooga returns to the tee box March 24-25 at the Briar’s Creek Invitational. The two-day, 54-hole tournament is played in Charleston, S.C.
Furman 12th at SunTrust Gator Women’s Golf Invitational
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Furman sophomore Valentina Romero (+7) carded a second-round 73 on Saturday to tie for 28th heading into the final round of the 42nd Annual SunTrust Gator Women’s Golf Invitational at the par-70 6,002-yard Mark Bostick Golf Course at the University of Florida.
Carlozzi, who teed off of No. 10 and recorded birdies on No. 14 and 17, was 1-under after nine holes and finished the Saturday’s play seven strokes back of Texas A&M’s Marijosse Navarro, who led the tournament after registering a two-day total of 71-69=140.
Paladin sophomore Stephanie Carlozzi (+8) notched a 76 with two birdies on No. 7 and 17 to tie for 35th after two rounds, while freshman Taylor Totland (+13) birdied No. 16 to card a 73 on Saturday. Totland is tied for 50th heading into Sunday’s play.
Junior Laura DeMarco (+19) led the Paladins with three birdies on the day, including two in her first five holes, to record a 78 in Saturday’s round, tying for 71st. Senior Aubrie Street (+23) finished the day in 79th place after shooting an 82 in the second round.
No. 37 Kent State (+15) leads 30th-ranked Ohio State (+20) by five strokes after recording a 279 on Saturday. No. 12 Arizona (+21), No. 32 Texas A&M (+21), and No. 29 Virginia (+21) are tied for third place, just one stroke back of Ohio State. Furman (+47) moved up into 11th place following Saturday’s round.
The 54-hole tournament will conclude with a shot gun start at 9 a.m. on Sunday.