Stephanie Meadow
Alabama freshman Stephanie Meadow led the top-ranked Alabama women's golf team to the programme's 3rd tournament title of the 2010-11 season on Tuesday with a 5-stroke victory at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic. The tournament was held at the par-72, 6,191-yard River Course at the Rio Mar Beach Resort.
The University of Alabama - known as The Crimson Tide - have won the Lady Puerto Rico Classic each of the last 3 times they have played in the event and this year edged Iowa State by 5 strokes for the win.
Iowa had erased the Tide's 9-shot lead midway through the round to take the lead, but UA closed well for the win, university officials said. Florida State (+27, 891) finished third with Purdue (+32, 896) in fourth and Georgia (+43, 907) in fifth.
"Iowa State played well today and got at least a couple strokes ahead of us at one point in the middle of the round," Alabama head coach Mic Potter said in a news release. "We didn't look like we had anything going at all, and then all of the sudden we got a couple of putts to drop and hit the shots down the stretch we needed to win. At the same time, Iowa State helped us out with a couple of bogeys."
Meadow, a native of Jordanstown, Northern Ireland, shot a 3-under-par 69 in Tuesday's final round to capture her first medalist honours and finished at 4-under-par 212 to edge Florida State's Maria Salinas by one shot and Georgia's Marta Silva Zamora by two strokes.
The 69 and 212 were both career bests for Meadow, who won in just her fifth tournament since joining the Crimson Tide in August.
It marked the first time in Mic Potter's 6 seasons in Tuscaloosa the Hall of Fame coach has captured 3 team titles in a season. It also marks the second-most tournament wins in a season in school history. The 1987 squad won four tournaments en route to the school's first NCAA Championship appearance.
Alabama had 3 players finish in the top 10 with senior Camilla Lennarth (+3, 219) in sixth place and sophomore Jennifer Kirby (+6, 222) in a tie for ninth. A double bogey on the final hole cost Brooke Pancake (+8, 224) a top-10 showing leaving her in a tie for 13th. Courtney Harter finished in a tie for 59th at 236.
The nexy event is in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate on February 27th - March 1st at the English Turn Country Club.
