Tide Finish 14th at Mercedes-Benz Championship
10/23/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
 |
|
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Crimson Tide women’s golf team lowered its score in each of the final two rounds at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, but were unable to overcome a disastrous opening round and finished 14th at the three-day event. Alabama shot a 322 in the first round, its worst team score of the season. The Tide knocked six strokes off of that mark in the second round to card a 316 and improved even more on the final day, firing a team tally of 312 to finish with a 54-hole total of 950.
“I think you have to deal with a loss of confidence any time you put up a big score like that,” head coach Mic Potter said. “I didn’t think we hit the ball that poorly, we just struggled with the speed of the greens. Our short game cost us shot after shot this weekend.”
The 14-team field at the event was the toughest of the young season, with several teams ranked in the top 10 and each of the American teams present in the top 50 in the Golfweek/Sagarin team ratings. The Swedish Junior National team also competed at the event.
“It was obviously the toughest field of the season so far,” Potter said. “Several of those teams are wrapping up their fall season, while ours is just getting underway. We are still trying to find our lineup and find out the things we need to work on over the winter, and we feel like we are starting to get a handle on those things.”
In addition, the Tide may have suffered from a layoff of a month that followed Alabama’s dramatic victory at the Ann Rhoads Intercollegiate in Tuscaloosa. Several players were able to improve their individual scores throughout the course of the tournament, but the opening round marks proved too difficult to overcome.
“The layoff definitely hurt us,” Potter said. “We just never got used to the greens. We started to get a little better each day, but it was still a struggle.”
Alabama’s Jenny Suh was the only Tide competitor to break the top 50 at the event. Suh, who led the Tide at the Ann Rhoads Intercollegiate after an All-American season a year ago, shot a 224 at the Mercedes-Benz. Suh finished in an 11th-place tie, just missing her 14th career top-10 finish by a single stroke.
“Jenny hit the ball very well this weekend,” Potter said. “The way she struck the ball, she easily could have shot under-par, but her short game cost her. She improved on the greens each day, but just never got as comfortable as she would have liked.”
Sarah Sturm, a sophomore transfer from Furman, had a fantastic final round. Sturm, who struggled in rounds one and two with identical scores of 84, knocked 10 strokes off of that mark and fired a 74 in the final round of the event. The Spartanburg, S.C., native finished with a 242 and tied for 65th place.
Senior Audrey Gale carded rounds of 81, 82 and 80 and finished in a tie for 67th place. Carina Sorensen had an impressive second round when she posted a 75, but was unable to continue her hot play in the third round, as she shot an 84 and finished in 69th place. Freshman Laura Goodwin rounded out the Tide lineup and carded a 251 while finishing in 72nd place.
Georgia, ranked No. 4 in the most recent Golfweek/Sagarin poll, posted an impressive 292 to come back from behind and defeat No. 6 Purdue for the team title by three strokes. Arkansas, ranked No. 3, the Swedish Junior National team and No. 19 Tennessee rounded out the top five in team competition.
Amanda McCurdy of Arkansas held off Marci Turner of Tennessee, who posted the lowest individual round of the tournament in today’s final round with a 68 for medalist honors. Georgia’s Whitney Wade and Taylor Leon and Onnarin Sattayabanphot of Purdue completed the top five among individual competitors.
Potter and his Crimson Tide team will look to rebound next weekend at the Seminole Classic in Destin, Fla. The 54-hole event will be played at the Sandestin Resort and is slated to begin on Friday, Oct. 27.
