Fort Myers, Fla. - Freshman Alexandria Buelow (Palm City, Fla.) closed out the 32nd annual FIU Pat Bradley Invitational with a one over par 73 to tie for fourth place overall at even par 216, but the Stetson women's golf team did not fare as well in Tuesday's final round at Pelican Preserve and Country Club, slipping to seventh place in the final standings. The Hatters came in 28 over par, 22 strokes behind tournament champion Furman. USF's Shena Yang (-8) won the individual title.
Senior Lauren Darnell (Gainesville, Ga.) shot 75 and tied for 23rd at eight over par on the week while freshman Anna Hancock (Lakeland, Fla.) and junior Alex Banham (Birmingham, England) contributed the other two Stetson counting scores Tuesday with 77 and 78 respectively. Hancock tied for 40th at +12 and Banham tied for 49th at +16. Senior Danielle Jackson (Seminole, Fla.) had a tough day on the links with a 79 but still managed to be the third-best scoring Hatter in the tournament, tying for 16th place at nine over par. Junior Lauren Eliopoulos (Akron, Ohio), competing as an individual, finished the tournament with a final round 80, improving her score each time around the course.
Yang won medalist honors by three strokes over UCF's Valentina Fontaine with Furman's Alexa Rancourt capturing third place at -4. Buelow tied for fourth place at even par with Mitsuki Katahira (Daytona State).
Furman, ranked 49th in the latest GolfStat.com rankings, took the team crown at +6, seven strokes better than runner-up USF. UCF took third at 15 over par with host FIU (+19), Missouri State (+26) and North Texas (+26) also ahead of the Hatters. Drake (+33), Daytona State (+37), Florida Gulf Coast (+51), Cincinnati (+56), Florida Atlantic (+59), Bradley (+64), Murray State (+69) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (+81) rounded out the field.
Stetson wraps up the fall portion of its season next Monday and Tuesday with its annual Holiday Inn Express Hatter Fall Classic. The tournament, which will run concurrently with the Stetson/CFSC Invitational men's event, will be held at Victoria Hills Golf Club in DeLand. The Hatter women will be looking to win their home tournament for the third consecutive year while the men shoot for back-to-back titles.
