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 Freshman Desiree Karlsson led Western Carolina with a 12th-place finish on Tuesday at the Palmetto Intercollegiate on Kiawah Island, S.C. |
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Oct. 31, 2006
Edwin Watts/Palmetto Intercollegiate - FINAL RESULTS
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Kiawah Island, S.C. - Concluding the second round and playing 18 additional holes of the third round on Tuesday, the Western Carolina women's golf team rallied to finish fourth at the Edwin Watts/Palmetto Intercollegiate at the Oak Point Golf Club. Freshman Desiree Karlsson led the Catamounts with 12th-place finish, carding a career-best, three-round total of 223.
Western carded rounds of 298, 303, and 299 to finish with a team score of 900, which ranks as the sixth-best, 54-hole score in school history and marks WCU's best-ever scoring performance and team finish at the Palmetto Intercollegiate.
"With a young team, we are very excited with how strong we finished this fall in a very tough tournament against a very tough field on a very tough golf course," said head coach Steve Lott. "Even with all of the success we enjoyed this semester, we still have a lot of work to do to prepare for our spring season and the Southern Conference Championships."
Campbell led nearly from start-to-finish to claim the overall team championship with a 54-hole total of 879 (295-298-286). East Tennessee State finished second, 10 strokes behind the Camels with a 889, and were followed by Louisville (893), Western Carolina (900) and Miami (FL) rounding out the top five with a two-day total of 906. The College of Charleston's Steffi Kirchmayr claimed the individual medalist honors with a two-under, three-round total of 214 (69-72-73) to edge ETSU's hard-charging Laura Jansone by two strokes (77-70-69=216).
To put the fourth-place finish into perspective, Western Carolina entered the two-day, three-round tournament ranked 104 out of 222 NCAA Division I women's golf teams, according to the pre-tournament GolfStat rankings (available at www.GolfStat.com). WCU finished in front of a total of 15 teams to place fourth and 11 of the 15 were ranked in front of them prior to the tournament. (See final standings below for rankings).
After finishing the first round on Monday in third-place, the Catamounts dropped as low as sixth near the conclusion of the second round, which had to be split over the two days due to darkness associated with the time change. However, a strong finish to the second round and a solid final 18 holes for the Catamounts gave WCU its 15th top five team finish in its last 17 overall events.
Freshman Desiree Karlsson struggled in Tuesday's final round, but managed to lead the Catamounts for the entire tournament, shooting 71, 73, and 79 for her career-low 54-hole score of 223 to finish 12th, just two strokes out of 10th. Karlsson's 223 ranks tied for 10th on WCU's all-time three-round tournament scoring chart. Her countryman, junior Malin Fryk slipped into a tie for 15th after hovering around the top 10 both days. Fryk recorded par on all but five holes on Tuesday afternoon with four bogies and one birdie to post a final round 75 to finish at 225.
Also improving upon her best three-round was Western's third Swedish-born player, freshman Elin Mickelsson. Carding three-consecutive, four-over rounds of 76, Mickelsson shaved one stroke off her previous career-best to shoot 228 and finish tied for 32nd
Senior Bianca Melone led the entire tournament in par 4 scoring, averaging one-under or 3.96 strokes on the middle distance holes. She also paced the team with nine birdies over the two days. The Orlando, Fla., native bounced back from an opening 77 and second round 78 to tie for the team's lowest round on the final 18 holes, 74, to finish tied for 36th with a 229.
Rounding out Western's finishers was junior Kandy Carland, who bounced back from consecutive 80-plus rounds to shoot 74 over her final 18 holes to move from 82nd into a tie for 67th with a 237. Carland balanced five bogies with three birdies to register the two-over final round.
The women's golf team will now take the winter off from competition before returning to action on March 5-6, 2007 at the Lady Jaguar Invitational in Mobile, Ala. The Catamounts have something strong to build upon as they enter the lay-over with a team championship and five, top five team finishes. Also, this fall alone, the women's golfers have put together the all-time second, sixth and seventh-best, three-round tournament scores, as well as the second-best, 36-hole score all-time.
Edwin Watts/Palmetto Intercollegiate - FINAL RESULTS
Schools (GolfStat Rank) Scores 1 Campbell (43) 295 298 286 879 + 15 2 East Tennessee State (75) 301 293 295 889 + 25 3 Louisville (47) 304 293 296 893 + 29 4 Western Carolina (104) 298 303 299 900 + 36 5 Miami (79) 296 310 300 906 + 42 6 Kansas State (83) 313 305 292 910 + 46 7 Iowa State (86) 301 300 311 912 + 48 T8 Notre Dame (66) 308 310 296 914 + 50 T8 Coll. of Charleston (50) 304 311 299 914 + 50 10 Arkansas-Little Rock 74) 304 310 301 915 + 51 11 Indiana (45) 307 310 299 916 + 52 12 Georgia State (105) 317 297 308 922 + 58 T13 Maryland (62) 310 308 305 923 + 59 T13 Wisconsin (73) 308 309 306 923 + 59 T13 Colorado (57) 311 310 302 923 + 59 16 Coastal Carolina (72) 303 319 304 926 + 62 17 East Carolina (108) 308 311 314 933 + 69 18 Charleston Southern (168) 310 320 318 948 + 84 19 Appalachian State (170) 328 339 320 987 +123
4 Western Carolina 298 303 299 - 900 +36 12 Desiree Karlsson 71 73 79 - 223 + 7 T15 Malin Fryk 74 76 75 - 225 + 9 T32 Elin Mickelsson 76 76 76 - 228 +12 T36 Bianca Melone 77 78 74 - 229 +13 T67 Kandy Carland 80 83 74 - 237 +21
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