TUNICA, Miss. — An amazing final 90 minutes of competition in the SEC Women’s Golf Championship capped off a day when the league’s top teams all struggled to survive as Auburn lost a 12-stroke lead on the back nine to find itself in a sudden death playoff with Georgia for the championship of the Southeastern Conference.
LSU’s Lady Tigers, despite a struggling round of 22-over par 310 that started 15 over on the front nine, even found itself back on the edge of making the playoff in the crazy final few shots of the event. LSU eventually finished in a tie for fourth at 42-over par 906 (303-293-310), two shots behind the playoff score of Auburn and Georgia (40-over 904).
Arkansas posted the best round of the day, 295, and finished one shot out of the playoff at 41-over 905, the best finish for the Lady Backs since they joined the SEC in 1992.
Auburn, LSU and Georgia teed off in the final wave at the Tunica National Golf and Tennis Club with Auburn three shots ahead of LSU and Georgia and Tennessee another seven shots back in a tie for third. But almost from the start, the three teams were struggling to put anything together. Auburn was making the best of the situation, shooting eight-over on the front side, as LSU and Georgia fell back into a tie, 12 shots behind with holes rapidly running out.
But Auburn could not sustain and slowly as LSU righted itself, Georgia and LSU began nipping at Auburn’s heels, cutting the lead back to the original three strokes that started the round with three holes to play.
Compounding things for the three teams still on the course was the posted scores of Arkansas and Tennessee. The Lady Backs score was highlighted by the 67 of Stacy Lewis in the final round, which easily gave her the individual trophy with a 54-hole score of two-under 214 (72-75-67), six shots ahead of runner-up Whitney Meyers of Florida at four-over 220.
Every putt on the final hole meant something as Arkansas at plus-41 and Tennessee at plus-42 waited to see if they might win the title sitting in the clubhouse or it the playoff could possibly extend to as many as five teams.
Auburn and Georgia would tie on the first playoff hole, the par four first before Auburn was able to get past Georgia on the second hole to secure for the Tigers their fifth SEC championship.
“We just got very tight, especially on the front nine,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen, whose Tigers finished in the top four in the SEC for the ninth time since 1995. “They started trying to steer the ball and we got ourselves in some trouble early in the round, before they settled down. We left a lot of putts for birdie and par on the lip and like Friday, we just couldn’t make a putt. The girls grinded their way through it and as you see, the round almost came back to us at the end. We could have given up when we fell behind, but the girls kept trying and playing one shot at the time and almost got all the way back.”
Three LSU players — sophomore Melissa Eaton, senior Brooke Shelton and sophomore Kim Meck — all posted top 10 finishes in the tournament. Eaton finished in a tie for fifth at nine over par (77-73-75) 215, while Shelton and Meck finished at 10-over 216, in a group tied for seventh. Shelton finished with rounds of 75-74-77, while Meck had rounds of 73-75-78.
LSU freshman Rebecca Kuhn also had a top 20 finish in her first SECs, finishing in a tie for 19th place at 13-over 229.
The Tigers now wait for the announcement of NCAA regional bids scheduled for Monday, April 25 to determine at what site the Tigers will play as an at-large team in the NCAA regional tournaments May 5-7. The top eight teams from the three regional events will advance to the NCAA Division I Women’s championship in Sunriver, Ore., later in May.
Southeastern Conference Women’s Golf Championship Final Team Results (Par 288-864)
1 Auburn 291-302-311 — 904 +40 (wins on second playoff hole); 2. Georgia 301-302-301 — 904 +40; 3. Arkansas 301-309-295 — 905 +41; 4. LSU 303-293-310 — 906 +42; 4. Tennessee 299-304-303 — 906 +42; 6. Florida 304-307-300 — 911 +47; 7. South Carolina 313-301-300 — 914 +50; 8. Kentucky 310-314-299 — 923 +59; 9. Vanderbilt 308-316-303 — 927 +63; 10. Alabama 303-316-314 — 933 +69; 11. Mississippi State 330-312-305 — 947 +83; 12. Ole Miss 321-328-320 –969 +105.
Final Individual Top Ten (Par 72-216)
1 Stacy Lewis, Arkansas, 72-75-67 — 214 -2; 2. Whitney Myers, Florida, 72-74-74 — 220 +4; 3. Jessica Shepley, Tennessee, 71-74-76 — 221 +5; 4. Whitney Wade, Georgia, 78-77-68 — 223 +7; 5. Chris Brady, Vanderbilt, 76-80-69 — 225 +8; 5. Melissa Eaton, LSU, 77-73-75 — 225 +9; 7. Nicole Hage, Auburn, 69-76-81 — 226 +10; 7. Maria Martinez, Auburn, 74-75-77 — 226 +10; 7. Kim Meck, LSU, 73-75-78 — 226 +10; 7. Natalia Nicolls, Georgia, 75-75-74 — 226 +10; 7. Brooke Shelton, LSU, 75-74-77 — 226 +10.
LSU Results
T5. Melissa Eaton 77-73-75 — 225 +9
T7. Kimberly Meck 73-75-78 — 226 +10
T7. Brooke Shelton 75-74-77 — 226 +10
T19. Rebecca Kuhn 78-71-80 — 229 +13
T54. Vicky Meyer 82-81-80 — 243 +27