Bama's Sligh Wins UA-Ann Rhoads Intercollegiate Golf Tournament
9/23/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
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TUSCALOOSA - Rain shortened the University of Alabama/Ann Rhoads Intercollegiate for the Crimson Tide women's golf team but for junior Darby Sligh the weather didn't dampen the outcome as Sligh captured the first collegiate title of her career by three strokes with rounds of 70-74/144.
Sligh, a native of North Augusta, S.C., has been close in her previous two seasons at Alabama having posted four Top 10 finishes including a runner-up showing at last year's Tulane Invitational. On Tuesday, she finally reached the goal carding the tournament's low round score on each of the competition days. Her round of 70 on Sunday was the event's only sub-par
score.
"I am very excited about winning my first collegiate tournament," said Sligh. "I have been working towards this goal since my arrival at Alabama. It is even more special to me that I won my first tournament at our home course. I played pretty well on Sunday, but I'm disappointed that I gave a few shots away today and didn't shot as well as I could have. So that's something I'll need to keep working on. I really hope this is the start of a great season for me and our team."
Heavy rains late on Sunday and all day Monday turned the planned 54-hole event into a two-day tournament. Several golfers had to conclude their unfinished rounds from Sunday early on Tuesday morning before all the golfers hit the course at 9 a.m. for a shotgun start of the final round.
Alabama and Mississippi State shared first round co-leader honors at 302, but Florida State fired a final round best 304 to overcome a four stroke deficit and capture the team competition. FSU posted a two-day total of 610 in winning by six shots over MSU (616). LSU finished third at 617 followed by Alabama (622), Jacksonville State (644), Birmingham Southern (648), UAB (649), Middle Tennessee (653), Troy State (660), Augusta State (672), Memphis (673) and Samford (696).
In addition to Sligh's stellar play, the Tide also got Top 20 finishes from sophomore Carina Sorensen (75-83/158, T-14th) and newcomer Megan George (80-78/158, T-14th). Senior Anna Strandberg finished 26th (79-85/164) and freshman Amy Middleton was T-38th (78-88/166) for the Alabama team.
Five Crimson Tide players saw action in the event as individual players led by freshman Josie Lowder, who finished tied for 26th (82-82/164). Other individual UA performers included Mandy Tedder (85-81/166, T-38th), Jordan Daniel (86-85/171, T-49th), Lisa Andrzejewski (90-95/185, T-63rd) and Maggie Hall (97-110/207, 67th).
Alabama will have nearly a month off from competition before returning to play on Oct. 19-21 at the Mercedes-Benz Invitational in Knoxville, Tenn.
FINAL RESULTS
UA-Ann Rhoads Intercollegiate
* Individual
Capstone Club of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL
Dates: 09/21 - 09/23 (Today:09-23-2003)
Par: 72
Yardage: 6053
Fin. Top 20 Teams Scores
1 Florida State Univ. 306 304 610
2 Mississippi St. U. 302 314 616
3 Louisiana State U. 306 311 617
4 Alabama, U. of 302 320 622
5 Jacksonville St. 334 310 644
6 Birmingham Southern 315 333 648
7 UAB 321 328 649
8 Middle Tennessee St. 324 329 653
9 Troy State Univ. 327 333 660
10 Augusta State U. 335 337 672
11 Memphis, Univ. of 333 340 673
12 Samford University 354 342 696
Fin. Top 20 Players School Scores
1 Darby Sligh Alabama 70 74 144
2 Amanda Mathis Miss. St. 73 74 147
3 Katie Quinney Florida St 74 75 149
4 Alison Curdt Florida St 76 74 150
5 Shelley McGraw Brmnghm So 72 79 151
6 Devon Day LSU 76 77 153
Natalie Booth Miss. St. 76 77 153
8 Vicky Meyer LSU 79 75 154
Lauren Smith Augusta St 78 76 154
Alexis Rather LSU 77 77 154
11 Kristin Lynch Middle TN 76 79 155
12 Caroline Larsson Florida St 80 76 156
13 Liz Schweihs UAB 77 80 157
14 Jennifer Jaszek Memphis 80 78 158
Brooke Shelton LSU 76 82 158
Megan George Alabama 80 78 158
Marilen F. Ruiz J'ville St 80 78 158
Carina Sorensen Alabama 75 83 158
19 Shanelle Howell J'ville St 84 75 159
Jaclyn Burch Florida St 80 79 159
