May 9, 2014
Vanderbilt women’s golf did not go as low as they did on Thursday, but went low enough to take a six-stroke lead on the field at the East Regional in Tallahassee on Friday behind a trio of Commodores that are in the top eight on the individual leader board.
Simin Feng and Jennifer Hahn each shot a one-over par, 73, on Friday, and are both at three-under par for the tournament, which places them in a tie for fourth. Irina Gabasa is a stroke back of Feng and Hahn at two-under par for the tournament after firing an even-par 72 Friday and is in a tie for eighth. The Commodores also counted a steady, one-under par round from junior Kendall Martindale in the second round, while freshman Antonia Scherer carded a second-round 73.
Martindale is in a tie for 15th while Scherer is in a tie for 24th.
The Commodores, who fired a course record 277 on Thursday at the SouthWood Golf Course, followed that round up with a 289 total on Friday.
The Commodores have a six-shot lead on second-place and number one seed Duke, and an eight-shot lead on third-place South Carolina and Tulane. The Gamecocks had the tournament’s best round of the day with a five-under par, 283.
“After getting off to a great start through our first 6 or 7 holes it became a bit of a struggle,” said Vanderbilt head coach Greg Allen. “The wind picked up and the golf course played much tougher. We also made some silly mistakes and didn’t take advantage of the par 5s. But with all that said, I told them that in all my years of coaching in a NCAA Regional, there’s always a day that is just a grind and today was that day for us. And, the beauty of it is today we increased our lead from three to six. Hopefully, we get back on track tomorrow and finish this like we started.”
Feng and Hahn are two strokes back of Mariah Stackhouse of Stanford in the individual standings, who leads all individuals with a five-under par, 139 (68-71).
The East Regional concludes at SouthWood on Saturday, with the Commodores teeing off of the number one tee with Duke and South Carolina beginning at 7:51 CT.
1. Vanderbilt – 277-289=566
T4. Simin Feng – 68-73=141
T4. Jennifer Hahn – 68-73=141
T8. Irina Gabasa – 70-72=142
T15. Kendall Martindale – 72-71=143
T24. Antonia Scherer – 71-73=144
