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Vanderbilt Captures SEC Women’s Golf Title 4-19-04 4/19/2004 May Wood Claims Medalist Honors For the Sweep BATON ROUGE, La. — Vanderbilt women’s golf program won its first Southeastern Conference Championship Sunday and May Wood was crowned the individual champion after winning a sudden death playoff. The Commodores beat Auburn and host LSU by four shots to claim their school record fourth tournament championship of the year. Vanderbilt finished 13-over par over the 54 holes on LSU’s par 72 University Club. VU’s previous best finish in the SEC Championship had been a fourth place effort in 2002. “It is an awesome feeling to actually win the championship,” said an elated Coach Martha Freitag. “Just to be able to watch how the program has developed over the last few years and seeing the kids play so well –it has just been a blast. “Now we know they are one of the teams people will have to beat,” Freitag continues. “We have played well all year and know we can win. All of our preparation has been to play our best golf and perhaps the good news is that we still have not played our best.” May Wood beat Tennessee’s Violeta Retamoza on the first playoff hole. It looked very much like the Chattanooga sophomore would win the title in regulation play but she fell into a tie by double-bogeying the 18th hole after taking an unplayable lie. The play-off began and ended on No. 10. “I was upset after No. 18 but my teammates did an incredible job of calming me down,” Wood said afterwards. “I went to the practice green to hit a few putts and I just decided there that I was going to win. “My goal was to put myself into a position for a birdie in the play-off and I had an easy wedge to about 12-feet of the pin,” Wood continued. “My putt just missed the edge of the cup but the par was good enough to win. “It was certainly nice to win but it was not my best golf,” Wood admitted. “The team victory feels great. We’re showing everyone where our program is going — we’re going to win nationals one day!” May Wood put herself into the lead Saturday with a school record equaling 67. Freshman Chris Brady had a huge round for Vanderbilt. The freshman from North Carolina had birdies on No. 2, 5, 8 and 15 before a bogey on the par 5 18th left her with a sparkling 69. The three-under par effort catapulted Brady into a fourth place tie on the leader board. “Chris had her focus there from the start,” Freitag noted. “She’s very competitive and she had that look in her eyes like she did at Texas (where she won the title).” Vanderbilt also had scoring performances from senior Sarah Jacobs and freshman Kristen Svicarovich. Courtney Wood had her best round of the tournament — a 74 — while Svicarovich’s 75 was important as the usual steady Sarah Jacobs struggled to an 80. “Kristen did a great job for us, grinding out a 75 and Chris played fantastic,” Freitag said. “Courtney was solid and everyone handled the pressure situations very well.” Courtney Wood overcame a double-bogey on No. 2 with a pair of birdies while Svicarovich had two bogeys on each side against a birdie on No. 8. “I can’t describe the feeling.,” said Jacobs, one of two seniors on the team. “Four years ago this program was not in a position to win the SEC. To finally accomplish one of our main goals is amazing. I was anxious coming into this tournament knowing it was my last chance to be part of an SEC Championship team. I knew the program was going to win one day; I just wanted to be a part of it.” Vanderbilt is ranked No. 3 nationally by golfweek.com. Its next competition will come at the NCAA Regional Tournament May 6-8. The Commodores had already won the Kentucky and Arizona Invitationals and the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Classic this season. Final Team Standings Final Leaderboard Vanderbilt Scoring Complete Information can be found on golfstat.comMay Wood Sizzles as Vandy Leads SEC Golf BATON ROUGE, La. — May Wood fired a blistering five-under par 67 to propel Vanderbilt into the team lead after the second round of the Southeastern Conference Championships. The Commodores lead Auburn by one shot and Tennessee by two heading into tomorrow’s final round. May Wood dominated LSU’s University Club. The sophomore made the turn in three-under par and then took advantage of her long game to eagle the par 5 11th to go five-under. She finished with seven straight pars for her 67 and leads Tennessee’s Violeta Retamoza by two strokes. Her five under tied the school record set by Nicki Cutler in the 2002 SEC Championship. “May hit 17 of 18 greens and gave herself lots of opportunities,” said Coach Martha Freitag. “She made an excellent par save on 18, coming out of a bunker and sinking a 10-foot putt.” May Wood had ample support from teammate Sarah Jacobs, who birdied two of her last three holes to finish at 73. Jacobs’ strong finish pushed her into seventh place. Freshman Chris Brady bogeyed her first hold, double bogeyed the second and then played the next 16 holes even par to close with a 75. Courtney Wood and Kristen Svicarovich each shot 76 for the third-ranked Commodores. “I was particularly please with how strong our team finished this round,” Freitag continued. “Kristen and Courtney both closed out well and so did Sarah and Chris. We fought hard; it looked as if the wheels were coming off when we began but we had talked as a team about how some opportunities come early and some come late. We were ready. “I know we are excited to be in this position but it is very important for us not to make this bigger than it is. We have won some tournaments this year with fields of this caliber and we have 18 holes of golf to play. If we stay focused, we have a great chance to win another.” Team Standings Individual Leaderboard Vanderbilt Scoring Live Scoring and Complete Results can be found on golfstat.com Vanderbilt Women’s Golf Team Second at SEC Championship After 18 Holes BATON ROUGE, La. — The third rated Vanderbilt women’s golf team is in second place after Friday’s first round of the Southeastern Conference Championships. The Commodores turned in a seven-over par 295 total to trail Auburn by three shots heading into Saturday’s second round. May Wood was Vanderbilt’s top individual, tied for sixth place, with Sarah Jacobs, Courtney Wood and Sarah Brady all coming in with two-over par 74’s. Kristen Svicarovich’s 76 was not used. May Wood had a pair of birdies on both sides against three bogeys and a double-bogey on the par-4 14th hole. Brady was even after 15 but suffered bogeys on 16 and 18. Jacobs had her typical steady round with 14 pars and a birdie while Courtney Wood’s day was highlighted by a run of three birdies between No. 3 and No. 8 on the front side. “Overall we had a good day,” said Coach Martha Freitag. “We were hitting the ball pretty well, not making a lot of birdies but playing very steady golf. This is a course in which we are capable of putting up a very low score and we would like to do that tomorrow and create some separation from the field. Otherwise, as you can see from the standings, the teams can become bunched together.” Freitag said May Wood’s long game put her in position to shoot sub-par but a balky putter held her back. Wood’s double-bogey came as the result of a rare four-putt. “May really took advantage of her length on the par 5’s,” Freitag noted. “She birdied them all. She just had a few problems around the green that kept her from a very strong round. The rest of our team had rounds that were quite similar.” Violeta Relamoza of Tennessee sits atop the leader board with a three-under 69, two shots better than Auburn’s Amanda McCrady. The tournament, being played at LSU’s University Club, continues Saturday and concludes Sunday. Team Standings Individual Leaderboard Complete results and live scoring can be found on Golfstat.com |
