April 18, 2003
The Tennessee Lady Volunteers took a four-stroke lead over the South Carolina Lady Gamecocks after the first round of the 54-hole Southeastern Conference Women’s Golf Championship, played Friday at the University Club of Kentucky par-72, 6,153 yard “Big Blue” championship course.
USC senior Kristy McPherson, the two-time defending medalist, leads the field of 60 after day one, with a four-under 68, giving her a two-stroke lead over sophomore Lina Axelsson of Arkansas and freshman Violeta Retamoza of Tennessee.
The 23rd-annual SEC Championship began at 9 a.m. ET Friday, following a traditional “Call to the Post” by Keeneland bugler George “Bucky” Sallee. Golfers battled soggy course conditions throughout the day, which saw a high of 69 degrees but little, if any, sunshine.
Only eight competitors came home with rounds of par or better on Friday. McPherson’s round marks the seventh consecutive time she has scored par or better, adding to her own record.
“Someone reminded me of (the par-or-better record) as I got to the first tee, so I thought I’d better shoot under par today,” McPherson said. “That gave me more encouragement to play better. I always go into every hole looking to birdie, and with the way the course is set up, I felt that under-par was a very attainable goal today.”
Tennessee’s three-over-par total of 291 was fueled by a trio of top-10 performances. Retamoza, junior Mary Jan Fernandez and sophomore Jessica Shepley all kept their scores under par for the day.
“We are all excited about the lead.” UT Coach Judi Pavon said. “We played pretty well, but we need to have a good fourth score the rest of the tournament. We are where we wanted to be. The team played the stretch of holes from eight to 15 pretty steady. That stretch is pretty difficult, but we were able to take advantage of the 16th hole and played a solid rest of the round.”
South Carolina and Florida will join UT in Saturday’s final grouping after rounds of 295 and 296, respectively.
Overall, six teams turned in rounds below 300, with Arkansas’ 297 placing fourth and Auburn and Georgia tying for fifth at 299. Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Alabama, Ole Miss and Louisiana State rounded out the field on day one.
The par-4, 384-yard 15th hole was the most troublesome on Friday, as the golfers shot an average of 1.18 strokes above par there. Only one other hole saw more than half of the competitors bogey.Highlights of day one included an eagle on the par-5, 509-yard 16th hole for Kentucky sophomore Stacy Springer.
Saturday’s action will begin at 9 a.m. ET with Alabama, Ole Miss and Louisiana State. Tee times are scheduled in 10-minute increments through 12:10 p.m.
