University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
Kiawah Intercollegiate
Upstate Ends Play at Kiawah Island Classic
2/22/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Kiawah Island, S.C. – The USC Upstate women's golf team completed play in the Edwin Watts/Kiawah Island Classic Tuesday afternoon, firing a final round 330 to remain in 32nd place. Freshman Rachel Lewis led the Spartans in the tournament and fired a 79 on Tuesday.
Upstate began the day five strokes back of Winthrop and was within 10 strokes of a top 10 finish. With the wind increasing from Monday's round causing all but three teams to finish the day with a score over 300, the Spartans fell in line with the other teams, watching its score rise by 13 strokes from Monday's score of 317. Upstate finished the tournament with a 997 total to finish a whopping 162 strokes ahead of Faulkner, but seven strokes back of Drake in 31st.
"After our first round shock, we fought for confidence the rest of the way," said Upstate head coach Todd Lawton. "We played one of our best nines ever as a team yesterday and made a huge improvement with a 317. We didn't get off to a bad start today, but we ran into some trouble around the green on some holes. When you add a couple of shots here and there, it was easy to move from the 317 we shot Monday to the 330 today.
"Everybody on the team had at least one birdie today, which was good. We have some things that we need to work on and things we need to do to get better as we head toward conference."
Miami was one of three teams to shoot a round under 300, finishing with a 295 on Tuesday and a 54-hole total of 888 to win the tournament by nine strokes over Campbell (897). Florida International was third at 901 and followed in the top 10 by Western Carolina (903), College of Charleston (910), Nebraska (910), Akron (910), Central Arkansas (914), Elon (915) and James Madison (916).
Individually, Campbell's Sarah Bejgrowicz shot a 76 in the final round and finished the tournament at even-par 216 to claim medalist honors. Mitsuki Katahira (Daytona State), tied her for the tournament championship, but Bejgrowicz won medalist honors because she played in the championship flight.
Lewis (Llanishen, Wales) led the Upstate effort in the tournament. She shot her second-straight round in the 70s, finishing with a 79 on Tuesday for a 54-hole total of 238. She finished tied for 85th. Amanda Hall (Tega Cay, S.C.) shot her second-straight 80 and finished as the second-lowest Spartan in the tournament. Johanna Ebenhag (Gothenberg, Sweden) totaled an 85 on Tuesday, while Taylor Pleier (Spartanburg, S.C.) and Marissa Clontz (Greenville, S.C.) each finished with an 86.
