The Lee women's golf team placed third against 18 strong NCAA Division II clubs in the annual Battle at Old South tournament. After posting a team score of 300 on Saturday, the Lady Flames improved by a stroke (299) on Sunday and finished the 36-hole event with a 599 total.
St. Leo (Fla.) walked away with top team honors (292-300 - 592). Armstrong State (Ga.) was one stroke back (296-297 - 593). Lee's 599 was two strokes better than Montevallo's 601, while SCAD-Savannah rounded out the top five (604).
Lee finished ahead of Gulf South Conference opponents West Georgia (609), West Alabama (615) and Shorter University (629). Host UNC Pembroke tallied a 616, good enough for ninth place.
Lee's scoring was paced by Sam Burrus, who's 71 was Sunday's second best round of the day. Her 36-hole tally was 74-71 - 145. Freshman Annika Gino slipped to an 81 on Sunday but combined with her Saturday's 71 was good enough for a 152. Caroline Moore finished the event with 78-75 - 153 and freshman Haverly Harrold was consistent 77-77 - 154. Another freshman Anne Hedegaard had a 76 on Sunday to go along with a 79 for a 155 finish.
In the medalist competition West Georgia's Franziska Bremm took top honors with a 72-69 - 141 in a scorecard playoff. SCAD's Mariona Maeso settled for second with 69-72- 141, followed by St. Leo's Marie Coors (143). Burrus finished in a three-way tie for fourth place with Armstrong State's Sophie Bargeron and Nikita Arjun.
"Our girls got off to a rocky start on the front nine today," said Lee assistant coach Hunter Vest. "Although we didn't take advantage of some the birdie opportunities we had early, we put ourselves in good position to make a lot of stress-free pars which really helped us get our round underway.
"As the day grew later, the winds got stronger and definitely made the course play tougher than round one. Sam (Burrus) led the way with an incredible bogey-free, one-under 71. Anne (Hedegaard) also showed a lot of toughness down the stretch today, battling out her round until the very end (76). All-in-all, it was a very solid day for the team and we managed to climb past some good teams by remaining patient," Vest concluded.
The Lady Flames will work on their games until Oct. 17 when they will take part in the Leeann Noble Memorial, hosted by the University of North Georgia.