April 17, 2011
The Vanderbilt women’s golf team finished the 2011 SEC Women’s Championship at the Auburn University Golf Club in Auburn, Ala., in seventh place with a final score of 897 (295-307-295). Sophomore Anna Leigh Keith shot a final-round 72 and ended the tournament in eighth place.
Keith, who was sidelined with illness in the days leading up to the tournament, persevered to post her best collegiate finish. Her previous-best came at the Bryan National Collegiate April 2-4, 2010, as a freshman, when she finished in a tie for 10th. Sophomore Lauren Stratton and junior Marina Alex each ended the tournament with a 227 and a tie for 24th.
Auburn led wire-to-wire and carded an 864 (283-290-291) for the tournament, 11 strokes better than second-place Alabama. Tennessee’s Erica Popson also led wire-to-wire on the individual side, capturing medalist honors with a 210 (66-74-70).
7. Vanderbilt – 295-307-295=897
8. Anna Leigh Keith – 70-76-72=218
T24. Lauren Stratton – 77-76-74=227
T24. Marina Alex – 72-77-78=227
T32. Megan Grehan – 80-78-71=229
54. Rene Sobolewski – 76-84-80=240
Head coach Greg Allen quotes
“I think that when you get an athlete that’s not feeling good, you just watch to see how they fight through a round. And, she put together a good round today because she focused her game on just finishing the round. I got her a pull cart from Auburn because of the way she was feeling, and now she loves it. I’ll have to get her one now.”
“She was really solid and was at peace with her game today. Overall a great week for her and a huge confidence boost.
“With Eddie’s (Anna Leigh Keith) finish, our top four players has a top 10 finish this season. We just need to get all of them playing well at the same time. We’ve got a week before we see where we’ll play for NCAA Regionals, so we’ve got some time to get some things straightened out.”
Anna Leigh Keith
“I was just playing well…everything else was just going well out there.”
“I spent all of last week in bed, so just going from not being able to move to playing golf is something I’ll always remember. I really didn’t have enough energy to think about it my game this week. I just wanted to finish.”
