Sept. 8, 2009
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Despite leading for most of the match, the No. 4-ranked Auburn women's golf team could not hold on at the end, falling to No. 9 LSU, 3-1-1, in the championship match of the 2009 Hooters Collegiate Match Play Championship.
Conducted by the National Golf Coaches Association, the Hooters Collegiate Match Play Championship was a three-day tournament that pitted 16 of the top college women's golf teams against each other in a combination stroke play/match play format. Sunday's 36-hole qualifier seeded the teams for the match play portion as the top eight teams went to the championship bracket and the bottom eight to the consolation.
The tournament was played on the Legends Course at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla. The par-72 course played at 6,280 yards for the tournament.
"We had a tough day today, it was a hard loss to take," said Auburn head coach Kim Evans. "I was really proud of the girls and how they played this week. We just had some things not go our way there at the end and we finished on the wrong side of the scoreboard."
The lone victory of the day for Auburn came from No. 3 seed Patricia Sanz as she defeated Jaqueline Hedwall, 2-and-1. Junior Cydney Clanton played to a tie in her match while Candace Schepperle, Carlie Yadloczky and Haley Wilson took losses in each of theirs.
"Haley had a tough day in the fifth position today," said Evans. "But, Patty played really solid and Carlie came back from being four holes down to have a chance at the end." Cydney and Candace played some really tough matches that came down to the last hole, so there are some positives to take from the experience."
Clanton, Auburn's top seed, led most of her match and even held the lead as late as No. 16, but Megan McChrystal took advantage of a Clanton bogey on No. 17 to halve the match. Schepperle was in a similar situation, also leading by a hole on No. 16, but Mary Michael Maggio birdied the final two holes to go from one down to 1-up for the win.
In the lone AU win, Sanz led nearly wire-to-wire and managed to seal the 2-and-1 victory with a par on No. 17.
Yadloczky, Auburn's lone freshman in the lineup, took the lead after the first hole, but went on to lose five of the next 10 to go into No. 12 down four holes. She rallied back, winning four of the next five holes, but was still a hole down going into No. 18. She sunk a 30-foot putt for birdie on No. 18, but LSU's Amalie Valle sunk an 8-footer of her own for birdie to tie the hole and win the match, 1-up.
Wilson struggled from the start, losing five of the first seven holes to fall into a deficit she would not recover from. The Ft. Mitchell, Ala., native won two of the next three holes, but it would not be enough as Tessa Teachman held on for the 6-and-5 victory.
"It is hard to be too disappointed about the tournament. We got an individual champion, runner-up in match play, third in medal play," said Evans. "It was a good start to the season, a better start than we've had in the past few years and something we can definitely build on."
The Auburn women's golf team will take the week off before returning to action at the Mason Rudolph Championship, Sept. 25-27, at the Vanderbilt Legends Club in Nashville, Tenn.