On Mar. 7, both the men’s and women’s Saint Leo Golf teams participated in two different tournaments. While the men’s golf finished ninth at the Panther Invitational in Melbourne, Fla., the women’s team finished second in the Armstrong State University Pirate Women’s Invitational in Pooler, Ga.
During a two-day tournament at the Duran Golf Club, the men shot a total of 918 (+54) points. The score allowed the Lions to finish ninth out of 15 teams.
The Lions’ best player was Junior Ryan Gendron, who finished ninth as an individual with a score of 223 (+7) points. Gendron’s performance has been consistent throughout the tournament. During three different rounds, the player scored 74, 74, and 75 points in each of them respectively.
The women, who competed at the Savannah Quarters Country Club, managed to finish their tournament on the podium. During the two-day tournament, the Lions scored 892 (+28) points and finished as a second-best team.
The Lions were defeated only by Dallas Baptist while West Florida finished in third. The team was placed by Senior Marie Coors, who finished the tournament as a third best player with 217 (+1) points.
In her final round, Coors, who is currently ranked as the best player in all the Division II schools in the nation, according to the Golfstat ranking, scored an impressive 68 on 72 pair course.
Nevertheless, Freshman Izzy Lawrence has performed even better in the final round as the new player scored 67 (-5) points. The score is also the Lions’ second-lowest score of the season, and it is the fourth lowest score in the program’s history.
The performance allowed the Freshman, from Trinidad and Tobago, to finish the tournament in ninth place with a total of 223 (+7) points.
Junior Amanda Jakobsson missed the top 10 by just one place as she finished 11th with a score of 224 (+8) points. Jakobsson was the last of the three Lions who managed to finish the tournament in the top 20.
While the men have only one week break before their next tournament, fans of the women’s golf team have to wait two weeks to see them in action again.
The men come back to action on Mar. 12 to take part in Southeastern Intercollegiate in Valdosta, Ga. The tournament will be held at the Kinderlou Forest Golf Club.
The women’s team returns on Mar. 25 to compete in the Stetson University Babs Steffen Invitational at the Victoria Hills Golf Course in DeLand, Fla.
Both teams will take part in only a few games of the regular season before they enter the championships phase on Apr. 24 when they will participate in the Sunshine State Conference Championships.
While the men will compete three times, the women have only two tournaments left. The conference championships will be held at the Duran Golf Club in Melbourne, Fla. Florida Tech University will host the tournament.
The conference championships will be followed by the regional and national championships in which the men’s golf team has been very successful during the season of 2016 as the Lions won Saint Leo University’s first ever national title.
As the season approaches, stay tuned to the Lions’ Pride Newspaper to receive more information about the Saint Leo Golf teams.
