BROWNS SUMMITT, N.C. — Junior Melissa Eaton fired the lowest round of the day for the LSU women’s golf team Saturday with a 3-over par 75 in the second round of the prestigious Bryan National Collegiate at the Champions Course at Bryan Park Golf Club.
Eaton’s round was highlighted by an eagle on the par-five 15th hole, and she currently sits in a tie for 39th place with five other golfers heading into Sunday’s final round.
Sophomore Alexis Rather and freshman Caroline Martens are each in a tie for 69th, while sophomore Kim Meck is tied for 78th and fellow sophomore Rebecca Kuhn finished the day in 84th. The Lady Tigers enter the final round in 16th place in the team standings after posting rounds 314 and 324 in the first two rounds for a two-day total of 62-over 638.
“We just had one of those days that you sometimes have playing golf,” said LSU head coach Karen Bahnsen. “The wind was blowing and gusting throughout the round, and we put up some higher numbers than we’d like. We just need to put today behind us and get refocused for tomorrow’s round.”
Georgia overcame a five-stroke deficit at the beginning of the round by firing the lowest team score of the day with a 3-over 291 to take a two-shot lead over Duke with a total of 15-over 591. The rest of the tournament’s top five consists of Purdue, Tennessee and South Carolina.
First-round leader Elizabeth Janangelo of Duke followed a 5-under 67 on Friday with a 5-over 77 on Saturday to fall back into a three way tie for first place at even-par 144 with Georgia’s Taylor Green and Tennessee’s Nicole Smith.
The Lady Tigers are paired with UNC-Greensboro and Furman in Sunday’s final round, which will begin with a shotgun start at 7:30 a.m. CDT. Live scoring of the tournament’s final day is provided by www.golfstat.com.
“We know this is a place where we’ll likely play in the postseason because it is one of the host sites (for the NCAA East Regional),” Bahnsen said. “We have a chance to go out tomorrow and get some more experience playing the course and getting to know it a little better. That needs to be our focus as we play tomorrow.”
BRYAN NATIONAL COLLEGIATE — SECOND ROUND RESULTS
TEAM SCORE (Par 876)
1. Georgia 300-291 — 591 +15; 2. Duke 298-295 — 593 +17; 3. Purdue 295-299 — 594 +18; 4. Tennessee 306-294 — 600 +24; 5. South Carolina 309-295 — 604 +28; t6. Wake Forest 303-303 — 606 +30; t6. 306-300 — 606 +30; 8. Florida 300-307 — 607 +31; t9. N.C. State 299-311 — 610 +34; t9. California 310-300 — 610 +34; 11. Virginia 312-304 — 616 +40; 12. Vanderbilt 316-308 — 624 +48; t13. College of Charleston 311-316 — 627 +51; t13. UNC-Wilmington 312-315 — 627 +51; 15. North Carolina 323-305 — 628 +52; 16. LSU 314-324 — 638 +62; 17. UNC-Greensboro 323-322 — 645 +69
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (Par 144)
t1. Elizabeth Janangelo, Duke, 67-77 — 144 E; t1. Taylor Leon, Georgia, 73-71 — 144 E; t1. Nicole Smith, Tennessee, 74-70 — 144 E; t4. Maria Hernandez, Purdue, 74-71 — 145 +1; t4. Mallory Hetzel, Georgia, 75-70 — 145 +1; t4. Leah Wigger, Virginia, 71-74 — 145 +1; t7. Amanda Blumenherst, Duke, 78-68 — 146 +2; t7. Nannette Hill, Wake Forest, 71-75 — 146 +2; Blair Lamb, Furman, 75-71 — 146 +2; t7. Pernilla Lindberg, Oklahoma State, 75-71 — 146 +2
LSU SCORES
t39. Melissa Eaton 79-75 — 154 +10
t69. Caroline Martens 78-83 — 161 +17
t69. Alexis Rather 79-82 — 161 +17
t78. Kim Meck 79-84 — 163 +19
84. Rebecca Kuhn 78-86 — 164 +20