Women’s golf takes fifth at Lady Paladin Invitational

The weekend of Oct. 26, our Mercer women’s golf team competed against 13 other teams and finished in fifth place during the Lady Paladin Invitational at Furman University.
The tournament began on Friday, Oct. 26, in Greensboro, S.C. On the first day Mercer tied with Samford University for fourth place with a score of 307. Individually, the Bears had Mary Alice Murphy, a junior from Lookout Mountain, Tenn. tied for third place with four other golfers; Aurelie Wiriath, a senior from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. tied for 12th; junior Lacey Fears from Bonaire, Ga. tied for 27th; Sarah Louie Brown, a sophomore from Severna Park, Md. tied for 35th; and finally, senior Kaitlin Marrin from Oakville, Ontario, Canada tied for 58th. Though the ladies played well, head coach Gary Guyer was not satisfied with their performance.
“We hit lots of greens and only had four birdies as a team. You won’t win golf tournaments playing like that,” mentioned Coach Guyer.
“It was not one of our better showings of the fall season,” admitted Fears, “The course was difficult with fast and firm greens with a lot of undulation. Everyone played well at least one day.”
The Bears placed fifth with an overall score of 310 during day two of the Furman invitational. This left the Bears behind Samford by four points and 11 points behind Furman University. In terms of individual results, Mary Alice Murphy moved up a spot and became tied for second with four other competitors. Lacey Fears moved up 10 places into a tie for 17th. Aurelie Wiriath wound up tied for 24th, Sarah Louie Brown tied for 49th, and Kaitlin Marrin tied for 94th.
On the final day, the Bears final standing was in fifth place with a score of 303 behind first place Chattanooga, second place Furman, third place Nova Southeastern, and fourth place Samford. The highest standing for Mercer’s individuals came from Mary Alice Murphy, who finished in a tie for eighth place with an overall score of 225. The tie for eighth made her third top-10 finish this season and her 12th collegiate career top-10 finish. Her fellow golfer, Lacey Fears finished with a score of 226 and a tie for 10th place with a Furman competitor. Aurelie Wiriath moved up three places to finish in a tie for 21st place, while teammate Sarah Louie Brown moved up 19 places to a tie for 30th place finish. Senior Kaitlin Marrin moved up 42 places to finish in 52nd place. Though the team did not do as well as they hoped, the team was able to end on a positive note.
“I’d say the best part was ending on a difficult course that highlighted our weaknesses because this will help drive our preparation for the spring season,” Fears stated.
The Bears have finished their season for this semester, but will be back in February of 2013 at the Ocotillo Resort and Golf Course in Chandler, Ariz. as they compete in The Lumberjack at Ocotillo hosted by Northern Arizona University.
“Our team is working very hard this year to represent Mercer,” said Lacey, “we will definitely be in contention to win the A-Sun Championship and bring the trophy back home to Macon.w”