Feb. 27, 2008
Tucson, Ariz. - The ninth-ranked Auburn women's golf team concluded play at the windy Wildcat Invitational on Wednesday, finishing in a tie for ninth with No. 20 Stanford. The Tigers shot 27-over 311 today at the par 71, 6,166 Arizona National Golf Course.
"The weather was a factor for all teams the past two days," head coach Kim Evans said. "We have our first tournament of the spring under our belts now and we will come back and take a look at what we need to work on for next time."
Junior Mariana Macias turned in the top performance of the day for Auburn as she fired 2-over 73. Starting out on 6, Macias found herself at 1-under after her first six holes. After doubling on 12 and two bogeys on 13 and 14, Macias was 3-over at 17. She fired her first of two birdies of the day on 18 and found herself at 1-over after another birdie on 3. She bogeyed on 4 and went even on 5 to finish at 2-over and tie for 24th in the competition.
Also tying for 24th was sophomore Candace Schepperle who shot a 6-over 77 today. C. Schepperle started on 5 and was even through her first five holes. She finished the back nine at 5-over, but bogeyed on 1 and went even the rest of the way to finish at 6-over.
Freshman Cydney Clanton ended up tied for 44th after firing 12-over 83. Clanton birdied on 5 to start well, but doubled and bogeyed on the next two. She turned in five bogeys or worse on 10 through 17 before another birdie at 18 put her at 11-over. She bogeyed on 3 to finish at 12-over. It was her lowest finish of the season.
Senior Abigale Schepperle tied for 52nd after shooting 9-over 80, while classmate Margaret Shirley tied for 58th after firing 10-over 81. Freshman Sarah Thead, competing as an individual, tied for 67th (79-79-84--242).
No. 15 Oklahoma State was able to hang on to its lead, winning by two strokes over No. 3 Southern California (296-300-290). Oklahoma State shot back-to-back rounds of 14-over 298, but its opening round of 4-over 288 was the difference maker. No. 1 Duke took third (288-302-296--886), followed by No. 8 Arizona (288-308-303--299) and No. 4 Arizona State (287-316-298--901).
Auburn finished 33 strokes off of Oklahoma State with a three road score of 917 (292-314-311--917). The Tigers finished ahead of No. 7 California, No. 34 BYU, No. 32 Texas, No. 18 Vanderbilt, Washington and UNLV.
Duke's Amanda Blumenherst never relinquished her top position, winning by three strokes over Southern Cal's Belen Mozo and Oklahoma State's Jaclyn Sweeney who tied for second. Blumenherst shot 2-over 73 today to finish at 213 (68-72-73--213).
Auburn returns to the links on March 9-11 at the UCF Challenge in Heathrow, Fla. The three-day tournament will be played at the par 72, 6, 301-yard Red Tail Country Club.