Some home-field advantage is exactly what the women’s golf team needed to finish up their fall season.
The Lady Paladins hosted the forty-first annual Lady Paladin Invitational at Furman’s golf course Oct. 26-28.
Furman finished in a close second place behind conference rival, Chattanooga, who finished with a final total score of +32, a mere five strokes ahead of the Lady Paladins.
A win at home would have been what the Lady Paladins were hoping for as they finished their fall season, but unfortunately Chattanooga caught up to the Lady Paladins to capture the win.
Although the Lady Paladins led by a stroke entering the final round of play, Chattanooga’s Lady Mocs stormed back on the final nine holes to secure a five-stroke victory. Chattanooga’s Marion Duvernay won the individual title with a score of three over par, 219.
Fourteen teams took part in the Lady Paladin Invitational, which included Nova Southeastern, the country’s top-ranked Division II team, as well as Samford and Mercer. Those three teams finished third, fourth and fifth respectively.
In addition to a high overall finish as a team, individual players on the team also shined in the tournament.
Freshman Stephanie Carlozzi led the Lady Paladins, as she tied for eighth place individually, shooting a +9 over all three rounds.
All four other Paladins finished in the top 18 as well, with Valentina Romero finishing twelfth, Alexa Rancourt thirteenth and Daffodil Sanchez snagging the eighteenth spot.
With the team performing this well, their collective scores were low enough for second place overall. Senior Laura Wearn tied for tenth place, just one stroke behind Carlozzi, and has had a very solid fall season.
Golfstat.com’s statistical rankings has Laura Wearn ranked sixty-second in the nation, based on average score by round, making her the only Lady Paladin in the top 100. She was also the only golfer ranked in the Division 1 top 100 on any of the teams at the Lady Paladin Invitational tournament.
Furman’s performance has improved in every single event this season, which should bode well as the team looks forward to the spring season. Now the team has time to rest and recover over the next four months.
The Lady Paladins, who have struggled early in the season, but have managed to steadily improve with each tournament, starting the season with a twenty-third place finish at the Cougar Classic and making their way up to second place at home.
While the men’s team finished up their fall season earlier in October at the Autotrader.com Collegiate Classic, this was the final tournament for the Lady Paladins until play resumes next semester at the Florida State Mashup in Tallahassee, FL on Feb. 15-17.