Oct. 25, 2009
WILMINGTON, N.C. - Junior Cydney Clanton carded her third consecutive 2-under-par round of the weekend to earn her second win of the season while helping third-ranked Auburn to post an even-par final round and tie for second place in the 2009 NCAA Fall Preview.
Hosted by the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, the NCAA Fall Preview was a 54-hole tournament played at the par-72, 6,325-yard Country Club of Landfall Pete Dye Course, the site of the 2010 NCAA Championship. The three-day tournament featured nine teams ranked in the GolfWorld top-10 and 17 ranked in the top-25.
"This weekend has been great," said Auburn head coach Kim Evans. "This is a preview of the NCAA Championship and I feel like we really executed well. Our team never felt like they were out of it and on a golf course like this, you're not. You have to play with such a focus and they did that very well.
"We played solid golf and improved after every day. It came down to the last hole to win and we barely fell short. We didn't meet our goal to win, but I'm not going to take any sour notes away from this NCAA Fall Preview."
As a team, the Tigers pulled together to post their best round of the weekend at an even-par 288, giving the team an 18-over-par 882 tournament total and a tie for second-place in the NCAA Fall Preview. Auburn was trailing by three strokes going into the final hole, but was only able to make up two shots on eventual-champion Duke.
Clanton's third-straight 2-under-par performance proved to be too much for the competition to handle as she coasted to her second win of the season. Starting her day, Clanton birdied two of her first nine holes, but followed each birdie with a bogey. However, the junior found her rhythm and three more birdies on the final nine holes. The Concord, N.C. native finished the tournament at 6-under-par with a tournament total 210 with her closest competition five strokes behind.
"Cydney played incredible," said Evans. "She really had a lights-out weekend. It's another huge win for her. Her game is so complete and she's worked so hard to get that way.
"Ever since she came to Auburn, she's worked piece-by-piece to put all of the components together and now she's mentally into it and enjoying her golf game. Cydney is possibly the best player in the country right now."
Auburn's other big performance of the final round came from sophomore Patricia Sanz, who, after posting 8-over-par for the first two rounds, carded a 1-under 71. Despite hitting for three birdies, Sanz found herself at 1-over coming into the final hole before going out with an eagle and putting the team only one stroke out of first place. Her final round performance landed the sophomore at a tie for 54th for the weekend, finishing at 15-over-par 231.
Also stepping up for the Tigers were Haley Wilson and Carlie Yadloczky, who each improved their game for the final day of competition. Wilson claimed a 1-over 73 to end the weekend with a 19-over-par 235, while Yadloczky hit for 2-over-par 74 for the second time of the tournament. Yadloczky finished at 9-over-par with a 225 tournament total, tying for 30th.
"Patricia and Haley finally got a feel for the course," noted Evans. "It's a really difficult course and they put it together today and were really big for us. It was great to see that kind of clutch performance out of them again. And Carlie continues to play well for us. She had some big holes today and really put up some great numbers."
Senior Candace Schepperle carded a 4-over 76 for the final round of the tournament, ending the weekend with a total 3-over-par 219. The score lands her in a tie for 10th place, her third-straight top-10 finish of the season.
With the conclusion of the NCAA Fall Preview, the Tigers end their fall season with two second-place finishes and two third-place finishes.
"I love that we end our fall season on a high note," said Evans. "However, I don't want to take that away from the things that we need to improve on for the spring season."
Auburn will open the spring season on February 22-23 at the Arizona Wildcat Invitational in Tucson, Arizona.
WILMINGTON, N.C. -- Final results from the NCAA Fall Preview hosted by the University of North Carolina at Wilmington at the Country Club of Landfall Pete Dye Course. Par: 72. Yardage: 6,325.
TEAM RESULTS
1 - Duke - 296-297-288--881 (+17)
T2 - Auburn - 299-295-288--882 (+18)
T2 - UCLA - 293-290-299--882 (+18)
4 - Arizona State - 293-299-297--889 (+25)
5 - Virginia - 300-296-295--891 (+27)
6 - Purdue - 302-291-299--892 (+28)
7 - Wake Forest - 304-287-304--895 (+31)
8 - Denver - 301-297-300--898 (+34)
9 - Alabama - 298-310-295--903 (+39)
10 - Michigan State - 301-305-298--904 (+40)
T11 - Georgia - 305-301-306--912 (+48)
T11 - LSU - 307-298-297--912 (+48)
T11 - North Carolina - 308-303-301--912 (+48)
T14 - Oklahoma State - 305-301-307--913 (+49)
T14 - New Mexico 303-313-297--913 (+49)
16 - Southern California - 288-309-319--916 (+52)
17 - Pepperdine - 303-303-313--919 (+55)
18 - North Carolina Wilmington - 317-303-313--933 (+69)
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
1 - Cydney Clanton - 70-70-70--210 (-6)
T10 - Candace Schepperle - 75-68-76--219 (+3)
T30 - Carlie Yadloczky - 74-77-74--225 (+9)
T54 - Patricia Sanz - 80-80-71--231 (+15)
T68 - Haley Wilson - 82-80-73--235 (+19)