Wednesday was a better day on the links for the Lee University women as they battled back from 11th place after round two to place 7th in the final standings of the 54-hole NCAA South Regional Championship at Chattahoochee Golf Club.
The Lady Flames tallied their best round of the tourney on Wednesday (291) after struggling with the 308 on Tuesday to go along with the opening round of 295 on Monday and the final total of 894.
Flagler College (Fla.) claimed top honors with an 871 total.
Nova Southeastern University was second (878). Anderson University (S.C.) moved all the way up to the third spot and posted an 888. the University of Tampa also made its way up the scoreboard and earned a three-way tie for fourth place with Wingate University of (N.C.) and the University of North Georgia at 891. Only the top four teams advance so there was a three-way tie breaker for the final spot with Wingatewinning the battle.
Hannah Nall played her best golf of the event and paced the Lady Flames with a 1-under par 71 on Wednesday. After having bogeys on holes 2 and 5, she came back with birdies on 6 and 8 while rolling in seven pars on the back to finish with her 1-under tally. She settled for a three-day total of 224.
Lehane Louis-Dumond followed with an even-par 72. Her round consisted of four birdies, two bogeys and one double bogey. After rounds of 75-79 she totaled 226. Olivia Ireland followed with three-day totals of 74-79-74 (227) and Banthita “Pearl” Phoncharatkun countered with a 74 today to go with her 73-82 (229). Haley Blevins had the score that did not count on Wednesday when she turned in a 77 added to her 75-76 for a 226 total.
The medalist honors belonged to Limestone’s Claudia Hastings, who was playing as an individual. She had an impressive 210 total for a one-stroke win over Henriette Stranda (211) of Flagler. Rosanna Halls of Nova Southeastern was third (213) and Kajsa Lindquist of Lander (S.C.) was fourth (216). Two other golfers were tied for fifth.
Coach Geandra Almeida's Thoughts:
"Our goal today was to put our best round together and I think we did that. We cannot control what the other teams are doing but to play our best and it gave us a chance today. We had a good run but unfortunately yesterday's round set us apart. Really grateful for this team and for our seniors. We had a lot of ups and downs this year but our team was willing to improve and get better. That is what you want to see as a coach. We learned a lot and are ready to come back stronger next season.