BATON ROUGE — Five teams enter Sunday’s final round of the Southeastern Conference Women’s Golf Tournament with in six shots of the lead after a strong day of collegiate golf at the University Club.
Vanderbilt took the lead in the latter stages of the round after Auburn appeared through the first 32 holes to be about ready to run away from the rest of the field, opening up as much as an eight-shot lead at one point in the second round. But the Tigers, the first round lead at four over par, went three strokes higher in round two and Auburn finds itself in second place at 11-over 587, one shot behind the Commodores at 10-over 586. Vandy followed a 295 on Friday with a three-over 291 on Saturday.
Auburn is looking to become the first team to repeat as SEC champion since Georgia won three straight in 1997, 1998 and 1999, while Vanderbilt is looking to become just the sixth team in the league to win the conference tournament, joining Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU and South Carolina.
Tennessee improved its first round four strokes at 292 and is at 12-over 588, while LSU and Florida, made big improvements to also move into contention. The Gators, after a 14- over 302 on Friday, posted just two-shots over par Saturday for a 592, 16-over, while LSU made a six-shot improvement from 299 to 293 and also stands at 16-over par 592. Still with an outside chance to also win is Georgia, nine shots out at 19-over 595.
Vanderbilt’s May Wood shot the fourth best single round in tournament history with a five-under 67 on Saturday, moving from a tie for sixth to the top position in the individual competition. Wood has a 36-hole total of four-under 140 (73-67), tied for the fourth best 36-hole total in league competition. Violeta Retamoza of Tennessee, the first round leader, had a one-over 73 on the second day and is two-under 142, while Jessica Shepley of Tennessee is third at one-under 143. Defending champion Aimee Cho of Florida is right in the thick of things at one-over 145, five off the lead.
The trait of LSU’s strong golf years has been the ability to get a fourth score in when one golfer was struggling and that has certainly been a success for the Lady Tigers again in this tournament. Friday, Brooke Shelton, LSU’s number one golfer, posted an 80 which did not count in the team total as the Tigers posted no counting score higher than 76. Saturday, Nicola Eaton, who had 73 on Friday for LSU’s best score, ended up the non-counter with an 80.
But again, the Lady Tigers, ranked 25th in the present Golfweek/Sagarin ratings, stepped up. Brooke Shelton got her game back together and posted a one-under 71, while Vicky Meyer birdied 18 for an ever par 72. Melissa Eaton, after watching sister Nicola get an eagle on a par five Friday, decided it was her turn, posting a three on the par 5 17th to finish at 75 along with Alexis Rather.
Meyer’s rounds of 75-72 — 147 put her at present in a tie for seventh in the individual competition at seven-over par with Rather’s 150 putting her in a tie for 24th. Melissa Eaton and Brooke Shelton are tied for 30th, one shot back.
The Lady Tigers, who won the event the last time it was in Baton Rouge in 1992, are looking for their eighth top four finish in the last 10 years.
“I am very pleased in how this team has responded to the challenge of this tournament with most of them appearing in their first SECs,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen. “We had another great round Saturday and we are in position to do something very special. It will not be easy, but we need to not worry about what’s going on ahead of us and just work hard to make it good round and see how it all shakes out.”
The final round begins at the U-Club at 8:30 a.m. and admission is free. Live scoring can be found on www.golfstat.com or at www.LSUsports.net.