Tide Finishes 12th at Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic
3/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
“The first two rounds were not very good for us. The conditions were bad, but we didn’t handle that very well and the scores showed that,” Tide head coach Mic Potter said. “Today was much better, the conditions were better and we finally putted much better. It was a matter of making more birdies and that helped us a lot. We just dug ourselves too big of a hole to move up.”
The Tide posted rounds of 320, 319 and 301 at the Liz Murphey Collegiate, finishing with a 54-hole total of 940. It was the team’s second highest total of the season and the highest team score of the spring season.
Georgia won its own event after posting a 903 and edged SEC rival Auburn by two strokes for the title. Wake Forest, Florida State and Kent State also finished in the top five in team competition.
Despite the disappointing team finish, Jenny Suh put together another outstanding round and earned her fourth top-five finish in the last five events. The junior shot a two-under 70 in the final round of play after posting a season-high 78 in the second round. Suh’s fourth round under par this season helped her climb ten spots in the individual standings on the final day of competition, as she tied for runner-up honors at the event.
It was the fifth top-five finish for Suh this season and marked the 18th time Suh earned a top-10 finish at an event in her career.
“Jenny had another great tournament, moving up 10 spots in one day,” Potter said. “It was just another real solid round of golf for her.”
Laura Goodwin, who has played the best golf of her young career in the last three outings, continued her improvement by firing a 75 in the third round. Goodwin shot a 233 over three rounds and tied for 30th place, marking her second top-30 finish in as many events.
“Laura is really getting better and is coming on quickly,” Potter said. “She is a great athlete and will really help us down the stretch and at the SEC Championship.”
Carina Sorensen finished in a tie for 56th place for Alabama, while Audrey Gale and Sarah Sturm also competed at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic for the Tide.
“I thought today’s round was important, not so much for today’s tournament, but for getting ready for the SEC Championship,” Potter said. “I thought we gave ourselves something to build on in the final round this afternoon. We have a couple weeks to get ready and we will have some time to put in some intense work.”
This weekend’s competition marked the final event prior to the 2006 SEC Championship for Alabama. This year’s league tournament, to be hosted by Vanderbilt, will be played on April 14-16 in Nashville, Tenn. The Tide finished 10th at last year’s conference championship.
