BELLEAIR, Fla. – Freshman Ava Merrill carded a 2-under-par 68 to lead Vanderbilt on day two of the SEC Women’s Golf Championship at the Pelican Golf Club. The Commodores matched their first-round performance with an 8-over 288 as a team, climbing into seventh place heading into the final round of stroke play.
Following a slow start, the Dores rallied and climbed as high as fifth on the leaderboard heading down the stretch. Much like Friday, a tough closing stretch claimed a handful of strokes to land Vandy in a tight battle to reach match play.
“I thought we did a nice job of weathering the storm early as we didn’t get off to a hot start,” said head coach Greg Allen. “Once we settled down, we showed a lot of fight. I thought we lost a little focus at the end and made some sloppy bogeys. Despite that, we still managed to move up the board a little bit.”
Merrill recorded four birdies in her round, tying for the third-lowest score of any player on Saturday. The 68 helped Merrill climb into a tie for 21st individually.
Senior Virginie Ding shot an even-par 70 on day two and sits tied for eighth individually. With the Dores teeing off from hole No. 10 on Saturday, Ding made three birdies in the first nine holes. She sits just one shot back of the top five individually and four strokes off the lead.
“I’m proud of how Ava stepped up today,” said Allen, “and despite some late bogeys by Ding, she really played well.”
Lynn Lim battled to a 4-over 74 while Sara Im registered a 6-over 76 to round out the scoring for the Dores on Saturday. Celina Sattelkau carded a 77 in her second round.
On a tough scoring day for the field, Vanderbilt moved into seventh with the sixth-best round of the day. The Dores sit two strokes ahead of eighth-place Kentucky and three shots clear of ninth-place LSU. The top eight teams following Sunday’s final round of stroke play advance to match play.
“We talked about how everything we came down here for is still within reach,” said Allen. “We need to play to our standard and trust all the work we’ve put in. If we do that, I believe we will have a Monday tee time.”
South Carolina leads the tournament at 3-under through two rounds with Texas A&M three shots back of the Gamecocks. Vanderbilt will tee off at 8:50 a.m. ET on Sunday alongside Arkansas and Kentucky.
Live scoring for the SEC Women’s Golf Championship is available on GolfStat.
