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 Junior Ashley Hovda led the Catamounts this season with a stroke average of 77.04. Her career-low round of 67 remains the best in the SoCon this season. |
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April 21, 2005
SoCon Championship Round 1 Pairings
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Cullowhee, N.C. - Head coach Steve Lott and the Western Carolina women's golf team will look to capture its second-ever team championship this weekend at the 2005 Southern Conference Championships to be held in Greenville, S.C. Action gets underway on Thursday with practice rounds, followed by the first round of action on Friday, April 22 from the Par 72, 5,984-yard Furman University Golf Course.
This year marks the third year the tournament will be held in Greenville, S.C., with the previous two occasions coming in 1994 and '98, both won by Furman. Action tees off at 9:00 am on Friday, with the first Western golfer hitting the links at 10:20 am.
The Catamounts are two years removed from capturing the school's first-ever SoCon crown back in 2003 when they carded the lowest three-round total in tournament history with an 894. Western's title snapped a string of nine-consecutive by Furman, who earned last year's championship to make it 10-out-of-11 for the Paladins. WCU finished second to Furman a year ago.
Leading the way for the Catamounts this season are a pair of juniors, Ashley Hovda and Brandy Andersen, who both enter the tournament with sub-79 scoring averages from the season. Hovda leads the way with an average of 77.04 over nine events, ranking her in the top 10 in the SoCon individual standings. Her career-low round of 67 that won the Wachovia/Great Smokies Intercollegiate back in mid-October remains the lowest single-round in the conference this season. The Springfield, Ohio, native ranks fourth on WCU's all-time career stroke average lists while currently having the fourth-best individual single season in strokes average.
Andersen, who was the individual champion on the 2003 championship team, has struggled during the spring season, including missing one tournament due to a hand injury. She has hit her stride down the stretch, however, leading the team in the final event prior to the SoCon Championships back in early-April. Her seasonal average is 78.09 entering the weekend tournament. Back in '03, Andersen fired a 212 which remains the lowest three-round score by a Catamount golfer ever.
The juniors will be joined by a sophomore and pair of freshmen in the form of Bianca Melone, Lucinda Davies, and Kandy Carland. The five Coach Lott is taking to the tournament were the top five scorers from the regular season. The top four scores from the three-round tournament will be taken to accumulate the team score. Melone was one of the hottest Cats in the final two tournaments, averaging rounds of 79 over the final two tournaments. She also placed second to Hovda in the Great Smokies Intercollegiate during the fall season.
This will be the first trip to the conference tourney for Carland and Davies, who ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, on Western's regular season stroke average list. The freshmen will be the first Catamount golfers to tee off as everyone will leave from the first hole on Friday. Davies goes off at 10:20, followed by Carland at 10:28 am. The three remaining WCU golfers tee off in eight-minute increments following the first two. Tee times for Saturday begin at 9:30, with Sunday's final round beginning at 9:00 am.
Fans can keep track of all the action on Golfstat's live tournament scoring featureby clicking here: LIVE SCORE UPDATES.
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