After holding the 18 hole lead the No. 14 Lee women’s golf team settled for third in Tuesday’s final round of the Lee Ann Noble Memorial after Columbus State posted a tournament record 281 to edge host North Georgia for the team title.
The Lady Flames were the leaders in the clubhouse after firing an opening round 294. Lee dipped back to 302 in the final round for a third place finish at 596.
“Hats off to Columbus and North Georgia today, they played well. It’s always frustrating to be in the hunt and come up empty handed. We have to start doing a better job of getting everyone off to better starts, too many rounds lately where we have someone out of it early.
We have too much depth for that to be the case,” said Lee head coach John Maupin.
Sophomore Carson McKie led the Lady Flames with a third place finish (73, 72). Freshman Supuschaya Srinchantamit (Yui) joined McKie in the top 10 with a 3-over 147 (74, 73).
“Carson and Yui had solid showings this week, definitely our most consistent players this week. I thought Judianne gave us a nice lift this week, especially yesterday,” added Maupin.
Judianne Speech shot a 75 in round one and a 78 in round two to finish in a tie for 21st along with teammate Haverly Harrold. Harrold led the team with an even par 72 in round one but struggled in her final round with an 81.
“It’s not the finish we wanted to have for our Fall season, but it should be a great motivator for the off-season. We’ll have better days ahead. We just have to make sure we learn from these moments,” concluded Maupin.
North Georgia’s Megan Sabol chewed up her home course with a tournament record 6-under 66 on Tuesday after a 69 on Monday for a 36-hole tournament record of 135. Sabol was a full eight-strokes ahead of second place Ana Thorne (Columbus State) who led her team to the title with rounds of 73, 70.
The Lady Flames will now rest up and prepare for the spring championship season which begins on Feb. 24 at the Battle at Hilton Head.