BATON ROUGE — North Carolina Wilmington parlayed back-to-back 4-over-par rounds into a championship Sunday in the LSU/Cleveland Golf Classic at the University Club.
UNCW, after shooting 17-over par in the opening round, played the last 36 holes in a combined 8-over after posting back-to-back rounds of four-over 292. The winners finished with a 54-hole total of 25-over 889.
The margin of victory was three-strokes over Tulane at 28-over 892. The Wave was on the march to trying to overtake UNCW all day long, getting its score as low as 5-under at one point in the round.
LSU and Memphis ended up in a battle for the third spot and the Lady Tigers, after playing the two best rounds of the year, was unable to keep it going late in the gusty third round as the team fought to hang on even with No. 1 player Vicky Meyer limping along with a possible torn tendon or worse, a possible stress fracture.
Memphis would shot 297 on the final day to finish in third at 41-over 905, two shots better than LSU in fourth at 907 after a final day 20-over 308.
UNCW swept the honors as Amelie Farrah played the last 36 holes in 3-under par after opening with a first-round 76. She followed with a 3-under 69 on Saturday and then played an even par round of 72 to finish at 1-over 217. That proved to be one stroke better than a hard charging Carolin Landmann of Tulane who also played the last 36 holes in 3-under par (72-69) after a first round of 77.
Amazingly that was the story of the top three players as UNCW teammate Becky Berzonski played the final 36 holes in 2-under (71-71) after her opening day 77.
Unfortunately for 36-hole leader Leah Hart of Augusta State things went the opposite direction. Hart opened with even-par rounds of 72-72, only to fall to fourth with a final round of 76 for a 4-over 220.
LSU’s top scorer was Brooke Shelton who finished at 10-over 226 (75-74-77), in a group tied for 13th. It was Meyer who had LSU’s low counting round of the day with a 76 to finish at 12-over 228, tied for 18th.
“It’s a funny thing,” said UNCW Coach Cindy Ho. “In our fall schedule we won our first tournament, now we win our last tournament of our spring schedule. This helps with our confidence going into our conference tournament play next week. The biggest thing this spring with our team was that we were hitting the ball well, but we couldn’t score. We were holding in the low 300s. This tournament pushes our team over the hump and creates the conference to go forward that the team needed.”
This was also the final tournament for LSU before its chance to win an automatic bid back to NCAA Regional play in the SEC Tournament in two weeks in Lexington.
“We didn’t quite have things go the way we would have liked on Sunday, but I’m still very pleased with this tournament,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen. “Vicky made the decision to play and she really did that because she wanted to be there for her team. Our team showed a lot of confidence in the first two rounds and if they can carry that over to the conference event, then who’s to say what might happen.”
LSU/Cleveland Golf Classic
Final Results
Team Results (Par 288-864)
1. UNCW 305-292-292 – 889 +25
2. Tulane 312-294-286 – 892 +28
3. Memphis 313-295-297 – 905 +41
4. LSU 300-299-308 – 907 +43
5. Mississippi St. 314-304-296 – 914 +50
6. Jacksonville St. 312-307-304 – 923 +59
7. Charleston 307-301-317 – 925 +61
8. Birmingham Southern 322-307-301 – 930 +66
9. Texas A&M CC 316-311-309 – 936 +72
10. Western Carolina 312-315-310 – 937 +73
10. Augusta State 309-312-316 – 937 +73
12. UAB 315-314-315 – 944 +80
13. Yale 317-320-311 – 948 +84
14. UNO 337-307-322 – 966 +102
Individual Top 25 Results (Par 72-216)
1. Amelie Farrah, UNCW 76-69-72 – 217 +1
2. Carolin Landmann, Tulane 77-72-69 – 218 +2
3. Becky Berzonski, UNCW 77-71-71 – 219 +3
4. Leah Hart, Augusta State 72-72-76 – 220 +4
5. Lauren Smith, Augusta State 75-74-72 – 221 +5
6. Jennifer Bridwell, Charleston 72-74-76 – 222 +6
6. Yunuen Sanchez, UNCW 74-76-72 – 222 +6
6. Lindsay Hulwick, Tulane 74-74-74 – 222 +6
9. Ashlie Simmons, TAMCC 76-71-76 – 223 +7
10. Liliana Alvarez, Tulane, 80-71-73 – 224 +8
10. Danielle Reilly, Memphis, 77-74-73 – 224 +8
10. Abby More, Memphis, 79-70-75 – 224 +8
13. Brooke Shelton, LSU, 75-74-77 – 226 +10
13. Natalie Booth, Miss. St. 78-73-75 – 226 +10
15. Sofie Andersson, Miss. St. 79-77-71 – 227 +11
15. Shelley McGraw, Birmingham So. 76-74-77 – 227 +11
15. Line Cordes, W. Carolina, 75-75-77 – 227 +11
18. Angie Green, Jacksonville St. 76-76-76 – 228 +12
18. Vicky Meyer, LSU 75-77-76 – 228 +12
18. Marilen F. Ruiz, Jacksonville St. 76-76-76 – 228 +12
18. Devon Day, LSU 72-75-81 – 228 +12
22. January Romero, Yale 76-74-79 – 229 +13
22. Rachel Overstreet, LSU 78-74-77 – 229 +13
22. Kathy Schafer, Tulane 78-77-74 – 229 +13
25. Jennifer Jaszek, Memphis 79-75-76 – 230 +14
25. Beth Irwin, Miss. St. 78-77-75 – 230 +14
LSU Results
T13. Brooke Shelton 75-74-77 – 226
T18. Vicky Meyer 75-77-76 – 228
T18. Devon Day 72-75-81 – 228
T22. Rachel Overstreet 78-74-77 – 229
T31. Isabel Dornellas 79-76-78 – 233