women’s golf

Women’s gold places 5th at LPGA due to canceled 2nd, 3rd rounds

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Published Oct 19, in Golf, Sports

On Oct. 7, the Mercer women’s golf team headed to Daytona Beach, Fla. for the LPGA Invitational hosted by Xavier University. The tournament was played at the LPGA International Legends Course.  After 18 holes, the Bears saw themselves in a tie for fifth place with a team composite score of 310 strokes.
Head Coach Gary Guyer was not happy with his teams’ performance, thinking that they could have played better all around. “We could have played a lot better today. We are 12 back and will need two good rounds to catch Campbell. Mary Alice (Murphy) was the only one that could get anything going today. She is just tenacious,” Guyer said. “Many players complain about something, like fast greens and long rough. She ignores all that and finds a way to get the ball in the hole. She is a solid player” added Guyer.
Murphy finished the day tied for third place out of 72 total entrants. After 18 holes of golf, Murphy was just one over par boasting a score of 73 on the day, placing herself just three strokes behind the leader. Lacey Fears was tied for 16th place with a score of 77. Aurelie Wiriath was tied for 29th overall with a 79.
Kimmy Graff (tied for 39th) and Sarah Louie Brown (tied for 45th) booked scores of 81 and 82, respectively, to finish up the score sheets for Mercer.
Unfortunately, due to rain, the tournament could not be finished and the results stood only after one round of golf not giving the Bears a chance to improve upon their day one efforts.
In November, the Bears head to Hawaii for the Rainbow Wahine Invitational, where they look to complete a solid performance.

Women’s golf takes 6th at A-Sun

Team struggles late after hot start

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Published Apr 27, in Golf, Sports

(photo courtesy of ASunPhotos.com) Mary Alice Murphy capped her stellar freshman year with a tie for 17th at the A-Sun tournament.

The first round of the Atlantic Sun Championship this year went according to plan as the Mercer women’s golf team blistered the field with an opening-day 300, a team record. Kimberly Graff’s 70 put her in the tournament lead, but after a difficult second and third rounds the team would stagger to a 6th-place finish.

Stetson won their third title in a row as Alex Buelow mastered the field with a 71-74-71. The Hatters would take the team title by 12 strokes over the Campbell Camels (906), who boasted a pair of players that tied for third, followed by Kennesaw State, ETSU and FGCU who all tied for third at 917.

Falling behind with a second-round 315, the Bears would fight back to inch up the standings with a 311 on the final day to put a sizable distance between them and the 7th-place finishers, the Jacksonville Dolphins (945).

“We played with a lot of heart today,” commented head coach Gary Guyer. “We’ve come a long, long way and we’ve got a lot more pride now.”

While Graff would start out hot, she would struggle with the course at Victoria Hills Golf Club in DeLand, Fla., during the next two rounds with a 79-78 to finish in a tie for 11th. Still, Graff’s three-round total would count for her second lowest tournament score in her collegiate career as she showed plenty of promise and greatness during the opening round.

“Kimmy gave it everything she had this week,” Guyer said following the tournament on MercerBears.com. “I’m very proud of how she has progressed.”

Teammates Lacey Fears (T-15th, 74-81-76) and Mary Alice Murphy (T-25th, 75-82-79) would also start out hot, struggle in the second round and then bounce back with a strong third round. Kaitlin Marrin (T-25th, 81-76-79) and Aurelie Wiriath (T-36th, 85-79-78) would round out Mercer’s scorecard in the season-ending tournament.

“In my fourth year here at Mercer, this season was full of milestones, improvement and gaining experience,” Guyer explained after the tournament. “In August, I told the team that this was going to be a special year and it was. The team won the two tournaments in and during the second half of the season we continued to improve. We played very well at the Cincinnati tournament where Kaitlin Marrin blitzed the field with 11 birdies over three rounds. Obviously, our focus is winning the A-Sun Championship and I felt like we were in a great position, mentally and physically, to do so,” he added.

With all letter winners returning, Guyer’s squad will have the benefit of experience next season as they will look to once again overtake the perennial favorites in conference play. After winning two tournament titles this season, the Eat-a-Peach Classic and Coastal Georgia Invitational, Guyer’s squad will look to build upon this season’s success with a young squad. With three returning players that averaged in the 70s this season, a feat not accomplished by anyone except graduate Monica Kelsey before this season, Guyer looks forwards to the 2011-12 collegiate golf campaign in which Mercer will once again aim to upset the A-Sun’s finest.

 

Women’s golf shows improvement at U. of Cincinnati Invitational

Eighth place finish in 23 team field helps women prep for A-Sun Championship

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Published Mar 30, in Golf, Sports

(photo courtesy of MercerBears.com) MU's Kimberly Graff had a solid tournament for the Bears, helping them score low in a top-10 finish in Crystal River, FL.

The headline might not be gaudy, but after an eighth place finish in the 23-team field at the University of Cincinnati Spring Invitational, Mercer’s women’s golf program is primed for perhaps their best run into the Atlantic Sun tournament in recent history. The Bears’ final round total of 307 on Sunday cemented their finish behind tournament champion North Texas and A-Sun rivals Campbell (907) and Stetson (908) as they would finish with a tournament score of 918.

“The Cincinnati tournament was a big step for our program,” said head coach Gary Guyer. “It was a large field against some tough teams, especially with our conference foes in the mix. Our teams destination has always been to win the A-Sun Conference Championship and by going head-to-head with the past conference champions, we proved to ourselves that we can beat these guys,” he added.

Individually, Mercer would put solid scores on the board courtesy of Kimberly Graff (T-12th, 76-75-73) and Mary Alice Murphy (T-18th, 73-74-80). Murphy started the final round in 8th place with a shot at a top-ten finish, but a tough final round put her in the tie for 18th with Stetson’s Ryan Ashburn.

The Bears’ rounded out their scorecard with Lacey Fears (T-66th, 77-85-76), Aurelie Wiriath (T-71st, 85-76-78) and Kaitlin Marrin (T-76th, 81-79-80) to give Mercer a solid position in the tournament that featured 121 individual players.

Graff’s clean scorecard on the final day helped propel the Bears to the top-10 finish as a team, taking two bogeys on the third and fourth holes while making up ground with a birdie on the seventh.
“Kimmy Graff had three good rounds and Mary Alice had two solid rounds (73, 74) and was in position to contend for the tournament championship,” said Guyer analyzing the team’s results after the tournament.  “Her final day was a learning experience and she will finish stronger at conference. Lacey had two good rounds and has the talent to score much lower. Aurelie started slow on Day 1, but her swing coach was at the tournament and was able to adjust her swing so she finished strong the last two rounds. Kaitlin had four birdies in all three rounds at the tournament. Once she eliminates the mistakes she will be shooting in the mid 70’s. We need her to do that,” Guyer added.

Paired with A-Sun rivals each of the three days, Mercer took a long hard look at their competition for the upcoming Atlantic Sun Championship April 11-13 at the Victoria Hills Golf Club in DeLand, Florida. With only a one more tournament remaining, the Gardner-Webb Dual Match at the Patriot Club in Ninety-Six, North Carolina on April 2, the orange and black looks to upset the conference field in less than three weeks. Last year’s five would record three consecutive 305’s at the A-Sun tournament to finish on a strong note. Guyer feels like this team could do even better in three weeks.

Currently, Mercer is ranked #158 wand sits behind A-Sun competitors Kennesaw State (#75), Campbell (#78), ETSU (#86), Stetson (#94), and FGCU (#133).

Women’s golf takes 11th in Myrtle Beach

Third round shows improvement at Barefoot at the Beach Invitational

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Published Mar 16, in Golf, Sports

(photo courtesy of MercerBears.com) Gary Guyer's team continues to improve and prep for the A-Sun tournament in mid-April.

Climbing the standings on the final day of play at the Barefoot at the Beach Inviational, the Mercer women’s golf team made the most of their recent visit to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina en route to an 11th-place finish in the 15-team field. Jumping Appalachian State and Marshall during the third round, the Bears (+86) would trail a competitive mid-major field in the tournament won by East Carolina (+27).

Hoping to repeat their championship performance in South Carolina as they did to win their second tournament title of the year at the Coastal Georgia Invitational, the team struggled in the first two rounds, posting 315 and 326 on the opening two days of the tournament.

The individual tournament title was taken by ECU’s Fanny Wolte (1st, 69-75-70) with a blistering -2 for the tournament while Mercer’s top two finishers, Lacey Fears (T-32nd, 77-84-73) and Mary Alice Murphy (T-32nd, 79-77-78), returning from an injury, would finish in the middle of the field. After resting for the past few tournaments, Kimberly Graff (T-47th, 80-79-78) continues to work on her game for the A-Sun Championship while teammates Keri Lynn Carson (T-64th, 79-86-82) and Aurelie Wiriath (T-77th, 90-88-80) rounded out Mercer’s entries.

Notably, the Bears would finish behind A-Sun rivals East Tennessee State (3rd, +39), Kennesaw State (4th, +52) and Campbell (T-7th, +66).
Mercer’s next tournament and final tuneup before the A-Sun Championship will be at the Plantation Inn Golf Course at Crystal River, Fla., in the University of Cincinnati Spring Invitational on March 25-27.

Wiriath, women’s golf take Coastal GA title

Sophomore Aurelie Wiriath collects first collegiate win in playoff

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Published Feb 20, in Sports

(photo courtesy of Gary Guyer) Mercer's Aurelie Wiriath collected her first collegiate win after defeating Shorter's Greta Lange in a playoff at the Coastal GA Invitational.

It’s not quite time yet for the Atlantic Sun tournament, but head coach Gary Guyer’s squad seems to be peaking at the right time. After a fifth place finish at the Jacksonville University Classic at Hidden Hills Country Club, the Bears pulled off their second tournament win of the season at the Coast Georgia Invitational in St. Simons Island, Georgia.

Trailing rival A-Sun schools Jacksonville and Florida Gulf Coast by only a few strokes at the end of two rounds, Mercer would settle in 5th with a team score of 642 (315-327) during the competitive Florida tournament eventually won by Daytona State College.

Freshman Lacey Fears (15th, 79-80) would take the low score for the Bears while teammates Aurelie Wiriath (T16th, 75-85), Alicia Poole (19th, 81-80) and Kimberly Graff (T-20th, 80-82) would stay in range during the final round. Sophomore Kaitlin Marrin (30th, 86-87) would round out the five on MU’s scorecard as they successfully stayed ahead of USC Upstate and South Dakota.

“We played okay at the JU classic, but it was not up to our standards,” Guyer said. “But the lesson we learned is that the way we putt is the way we score. I think our team always has to keep in mind that our short game is the most important thing. Everyone on the team had moments of brilliance. Aurelie had a solid opening round and was three off the lead. Tee to green, Kimmy played exceptional. We just couldn’t get the ball in the hole, and that is what golf is about.”

Aurelie Wiriath’s opening round at the JU Classic hinted at things to come as she would take her first collegiate individual tournament title with a playoff win over Shorter’s Greta Lange the next weekend.  Lange, who lost to Lacey Fears in a playoff hole at Macon’s Eat-A-Peach Collegiate has committed to Wake Forest for the 2011-12 golf season.

“It was such a thrill to win my first collegiate golf tournament following a playoff,” Wiriath commented after the two-day tournament was complete.

After shooting an 80 on the opening day, Wiriath stayed consistent over the course of 18 holes to card a 75, combined with the mishaps of Greta Lange (2nd, 72-83) to force a playoff hole at the end.  Ultimately, Wiriath would par the hole while Lange would bogey.

“Competing in Coastal Georgia’s inaugural tournament was exciting for us,” said Guyer. “We love Sea Island and have made some great friends there. We could have played better the first day and ended up digging ourselves into a hole. Six shots was a pretty big lead for Shorter and they have one of the top players in the country leading their team. Our girls felt confident that we could catch them, but it would take everyone coming together. Our player’s goal was to beat the other team’s players in their group,” he added.

The Belle Bears saw top individual finishes from Lacey Fears (T-6th, 78-84), Kaitlin Marrin (T-9th, 81-83) and Alicia Poole (T-11th, 80-85) followed by Keri Lynn Carson (32nd, 93-93).

As they enjoy their second team tournament title of the 2010-11 golf season, Mercer preps for a competitive 15 team field at the Barefoot Resort in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (hosted by the College of Charleston) on March 6-7 in their “run for the A-Sun.”