Alabama Finishes Seventh at Papa John's Collegiate Invitational
2/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
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Results
MIAMI, Fla. ?? After a strong first round for the Alabama women's golf team at the Papa John's Collegiate Invitational, a slow second round hampered the Tide and the team finished seventh at the event in Miami, Fla. It was the first outing of the spring portion of the 2005-06 golf season for the Crimson Tide.
"I was disappointed in our result because I thought we were very well prepared going into the tournament," head coach Mic Potter said. "I think the thing I saw was that competition is a lot different than practice. We weren't as ready to play as we thought we were, but it was good to get that first tournament under our belt."
Alabama shot a 305 in the final round of the 12-team event, dropping one spot from sixth place, where the Tide stood entering the concluding round of play. The Tide was in second after a 301 on the first day of competition, but finished with a 54-hole team tally of 914, three strokes out of the top five.
North Carolina State capitalized on a 287 in the second round and finished with a strong 295 to win the event with an 892. East Carolina, Virginia, Miami and South Florida rounded out the top five in team competition.
The standout golfer on an individual basis for Alabama was two-time All-American Jenny Suh, who led the team for the fifth time in as many tournaments this season. Suh, a transfer from Furman, shot a 72 in the final round at the event and finished with a 222, good for a tie for third place.
Suh's finish was the 15th top-10 finish in her illustrious career and the fourth top-five finish in her five outings in a Crimson Tide uniform. She finished eight strokes behind South Florida's Christina Jones, who captured medalist honors at the event.
"Jenny didn't have her best game and still finished third, so that was nice to see," Potter said. "We know what she is capable of when she is playing well and for her to get that type of finish without her best game is encouraging."
Sarah Sturm, Suh's teammate at Furman and now at Alabama, was the Tide's next-best finisher. Sturm carded a 78 in the third round to give her a 54-hole total of 228, good for a 22nd-place finish.
Seniors Carina Sorensen and Audrey Gale were the other two Tide players to finish in the top 40 at the event. Each fired 54-hole scores of 233 to tie for 36th place at the event.
Freshman Laura Goodwin competed at the event for Alabama as well. She carded a 77 in the final round, knocking seven strokes off of her second-round performance and helping her to a 58th-place finish in the individual standings.
The Tide will compete at the LSU/Cleveland golf Classic on March 3-5 in Baton Rouge, La., in the next event on the schedule for the team. Alabama is slated to appear in five tournaments in the spring season, including the SEC Championship in mid-April.
