BOCA RATON, Fla. — Lynn Lim’s even-par final round Tuesday at the FAU Paradise Invitational was enough to help her tack on another top-five finish to her résumé. Her 4-under-par tournament total led the Commodores to a third-place team finish. Vanderbilt carded a 2-over-par 290 total on the final 18 Tuesday, ending the tournament at 1 under.
“I’m really proud of Lynn and impressed with how she continues to be there for us every time we play,” said head coach Greg Allen. “She went from almost not making our lineup this week to having a chance at winning if she makes another couple of putts.”
The Commodores finished eight strokes behind champion South Florida. It is the Dores fifth straight top-three finish of the school year.
“I think we’re all a little disappointed by not winning this, but I’m definitely not discouraged,” said Allen. “We showed a lot of fight today in some very tough conditions.”
Tillie Claggett wrapped up the tournament in sole possession of fifth place individually, trailing her mate Lim by one stroke total thanks to a 3-under-par 69—the lowest individual score of the final round. Freshman Ava Merrill, 1-under par on Tuesday, completed her individual performance with her third top-10 finish of the year, tying for sixth place.
“It was really nice seeing three of our young ladies near the top of the leaderboard,” said Allen. “Tillie and Ava really battled after their first 15-16 holes yesterday to come back and get within a shot or two of the lead late in their rounds today.”
Competing as an individual as well, Macie Brown tied for 18th with a 3-over-par tournament total. Virginie Ding, notching a 75 on Tuesday, ended the tournament tied for 23rd. Celina Sattelkau’s 2-over 74 in the final round placed her tied for 26th overall. Sara Im shot a 79 on the final 18 holes.
The spring season gets into full swing with Commodores competing in two tournaments, the Moon Golf Invitational and the Darius Rucker Invitational, over the next four weeks. Vanderbilt will return to the Sunshine State for the upcoming Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne, Florida, from Feb. 18-20. The Dores tied for seventh at last year’s event.
“As I said yesterday, we weren’t very sharp around the greens, but at least we know what we need to work on over the next 10 days before we play again,” said Allen. “I really like this team and feel like when we get it going, we can be really, really good.”
