MCCORMICK, S.C. – Junior Victoria Hall's best round of the fall season lifted the Anderson women's golf team to a third-place finish, Monday at Lander's Savannah Lakes Fall Invitational.
The Bearcats hosted the two-day, 36-hole tournament at the 5,820 yard, par-72 Monticello Golf Club.
Limestone led the event wire-to-wire to claim the team title by six strokes over runner-up Flagler, while AU jumped two spots to finish in third place. The Trojans shaved six strokes off their team score to move past both UNC Pembroke and Limestone (B), which finished in a tie for fourth, alongside Lincoln Memorial. The host Bearcats remained seventh, with Emmanuel claiming eighth place and Southern Wesleyan finishing in the ninth slot. St. Andrews moved past Newberry for the 10th spot, with the Wolves finishing out the 11-team field.
"I was very pleased with the grit our girls showed today," said Anderson assistant coach Denton Moore. "It was again a day that was far from our best, but they did a much better job of controlling their emotions and staying focused on the task at hand. Very proud of Victoria Hall. She birdied her last two holes to secure another top-10 finish. Jessica Rathbone continues to be extremely steady as she found her way to another top-15 finish with solid play. Both Vic and Jess make very few mistakes, and really do a great job of managing their games. Emma, Kerington, and Anna were all much better today."
The Limestone duo of Ebba Hellman and Stina Wikstrom finished the two-day event tied atop the individual leaderboard with 3-over-par 147s, while teammate Karla Lagerstrom was third - one shot off the pace. Kim Jakobs and first-round co-leader Bella Petrone – both from Flagler – finished in a tie for fourth after notching identical 149s.
Hall trimmed two strokes off Sunday's opening round and vaulted from a share of 16th place into a tie for eighth, with freshman Jessica Rathbone also carving two shots off her first-round effort and jumping from a tie for 23rd into a share of 15th place. Sophomore Emma Charles made the biggest leap of the day – from a tie for 35th into a share of 20th place after slashing seven shots from Sunday's opening round.
Freshman Riley Mayhew also finished in the group of six golfers deadlocked in the 20th spot, with senior Anna Freeman claiming a share of 26th place after trimming four strokes off her opening round effort. Junior Kerington Lamb moved up seven spots into a tie for 28th.
"Again, the grit and focus was there today," added Moore. "Much more like the Trojan Golf we are used to seeing. It was our best round of the fall and hopefully that will give us some positive momentum as we prepare for the spring season coming up. Proud of the effort today. We cleaned up a lot of small things today. If we can just clean up a few more things mainly with chipping and putting, this is going to be a very good team. I'm very excited about the direction these girls are headed, and I believe we will see a completely different team come spring time."
3 Anderson 311 305 616
T8 Victoria Hall 77 75 152
T15 Jessica Rathbone 78 76 154
T20 Riley Mayhew 75 82 157
T26 Anna Freeman 81 77 158
T28 Kerington Lamb 82 77 159
1 2 Team Scores
1 1 Limestone 296 297 593 +17
2 2 Flagler 299 300 599 +23
5 3 Anderson 311 305 616 +40
3 T4 UNC Pembroke 304 320 624 +48
4 T4 Limestone (B) 305 319 624 +48
6 T4 Lincoln Memorial 312 312 624 +48
7 7 Lander 319 309 628 +52
8 8 Emmanuel 324 327 651 +75
9 9 Southern Wesleyan 333 342 675 +99
10 10 St. Andrews 277 273 550 +118
11 11 Newberry 354 351 705 +129
