The Golfweek/Sagarin No. 1 ranked Alabama women’s golf team fell to Golfweek/Sagarin No. 2 ranked Southern California at the Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate. Freshman Stephanie Meadow finished in first place, earning her second consecutive medalist honors.
Meadow earned a career-low of 66 in the second round, and led her team in two of the three rounds.
“It was just one of those days when I woke up and everything went in the right direction and every putt fell right,” Meadow said. “I think it’s great. I was eight under par at one point. I played really well, and I’m really happy that I had my career low. To get such a low score out there really boosts my confidence, so I know I can do it now.”
The Crimson Tide would finish at eight-over-par 872, after going two-over-par 290 in the last round. Southern California would end at a four-over-par 868 to earn first place.
“Overall, I feel like we improved since our last tournament,” head coach Mic Potter said. “I certainly would have liked to see us play better on the last day, but we played pretty solid golf, Southern California just played great.”
Potter said all five players were involved with the second-place finish. Junior Brooke Pancake finished tied for 16th at two-over-par 218. Sophomore Jennifer Kirby finished tied for 34th at seven-over-par 223. Junior Camilla Lennarth would end tied for 37th at eight-over-par 224. Senior Courtney Harter finished tied for 37th at eight-over-par 224, after finishing at an even-par 72 in the second round.
“I think it’s good that everybody contributes their depth,” Meadow said. “We played well two out of the three days. Having everyone contribute just shows everyone else that we have a very strong team that has depth, and that’s very important. It’ll help our confidence in the oncoming tournaments to know that we have five really good players.”
Along with the Tide, seven other Southeastern Conference teams competed. Only three of the SEC teams would finish in the top 10, Alabama (872) in second, LSU (887) in ninth and Auburn (888) in 10th. LSU is currently ranked No. 4 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings.
“LSU is a very good team, but they didn’t have their best tournament this week,” Potter said. “They’ve got a lot of great players on their team. Whenever you get to the SEC conference, you have to play well to beat them. We know that week in and week out.”
Potter said that the girls occasionally think too much about their shots, and said that consistency is what the team needs to improve on now.
“We think pretty well around the golf course as a team,” Potter said. “Sometimes we get a little too analytical and outthink ourselves. There’s a happy medium there where you analyze and you have to trust yourself. We just have to get better at that.”
The Tide will have their next tournament on March 11-13 in Baton Rouge, La., at the LSU Golf Classic.
