April 15, 2006
FRANKLIN, Tenn. - With one day remaining at the SEC Women's Golf Championship, Auburn continues to hold a slight four-stroke lead while Tiger senior Maria Martinez holds a two-stroke advantage in the individual race here Saturday afternoon. The Tigers wrap up play and will attempt to defend their 2005 SEC title on Sunday at the par 72, 6,217-yard Ironhorse Course at the Vanderbilt Legends Club.
Auburn shot a 6-under 282 on the day, an 18-stroke improvement from the first round (300-282--582) to give Auburn a two-round score of 6-over. The No. 5-ranked Tigers are closely followed by Georgia at 10-over (301-285--586), third place Tennessee at 12-over (301-287--588), Vanderbilt in fourth at 14-over (303-287--590) and Florida in fifth at 23-over (308-291--599).
Auburn's 282 was the fourth-best round by an SEC team all-time at the tournament and Auburn's second-lowest SEC Championship score for a single round.
"I was really pleased with our effort today, especially on the last four holes," head coach Kim Evans said. "Everyone stepped up at different times for us, but our work has just begun. We will work tonight on getting as fresh as we can for tomorrow and see what happens from there."
Martinez leads the field after a tournament-low 4-under 68 for the day for a two-day total of 3-under (73-68--141). Rounding out the top five are Georgia's Taylor Leon in second at 1-under (75-68--143), Vanderbilt's Kristen Svicarovich sits in third at 1-over (76-69--145) and Auburn's Margaret Shirley (77-69--146) is in a fourth-place tie carding a 2-over with Tennessee's Holly Cantwell and Marci Turner, both at 73-73--146.
The 68 for Martinez is the second one of the season for the senior as she hit five total birdies for the round, including four on the back nine. Shirley duplicated the feat as she birdied the final four holes of the round, totalling seven on the day.
Also finishing the day under par was junior Jessica Lovell at 1-under 71. For the two days, Lovell sits in a tie for seventh at 3-over (76-71--147). Lovell is followed by junior Nicole Hage (78-74--152) and sophomore Abigale Schepperle (74-78--152) in a tie for 30th at 8-over.
The Tigers will attempt to capture their sixth SEC title, and fifth with Evans at the helm, on Sunday with action beginning at 9:15 a.m. CT as Auburn tees off with Georgia and Tennessee on the first hole. Live scoring can be followed at www.golfstat.com and an update of the day's action can be found on www.auburntigers.com.