April 20, 2003
No. 6 Auburn rallied from six strokes down at the turn on Sunday to win the school’s fourth Southeastern Conference Women’s Golf Championship by two strokes over No. 11 Florida. Lady Gator freshman Aimee Cho, playing in Sunday’s final grouping, birdied the 18th hole to take the individual medal by one stroke over SEC Freshman of the Year Violeta Retamoza of Tennessee.
The Tigers (299-297-307–903) trailed Florida and No. 10 Tennessee by four strokes coming into the final round of the 54-hole tournament, but shot the day’s lowest total, a 19-over-par 307, to claw their way to victory. The field averaged plus-19 on the back nine Sunday, but Auburn was able to hold its total to seven-over.
“Even when we were down after the first round, I still had a good feeling about this tournament,” Auburn Coach Kim Evans said. “We kept being persistent and hanging in there. I felt that if we made it to the last three holes today, we would be alright.
“I am so proud of this team. We have been playing the whole year for these last three tournaments. It feels great to win this SEC Championship.”
Auburn’s top finisher was senior Danielle Downey, who finished in a tie for fifth place with a seven-over-par 223. Freshman Maria Martinez and senior Celeste Troche also added top-10 finishes for the Tigers.
The Lady Gators (296-296-313–905) stayed in contention for the entire day thanks in large part to Aimee Cho’s one-under-par performance. She earned her first collegiate medal after three second-place finishes during the regular season.
“I had fun playing in the wind today. I was also putting very well,” Cho said. “I had no idea where I was (in the tournament standings), so I just kept going. That last putt that I had was amazing.”
Sunday’s second-lowest scorer, South Carolina junior Adrienne Gautreaux, was two-over-par on the day. Gautreaux finished in a tie for eighth. The Gators also played even on holes 16-18, which added a combined eight strokes to most teams’ scorecards.
Tennessee stood in first place at the halfway point of Sunday’s round after shooting 12-over-par on the front nine. But the Lady Volunteers (291-301-319–911) could not hold their lead, going 18-over on the back nine. They did claim a pair of top-five finishers in Retamoza and junior Mary Jan Fernandez.
No. 16 South Carolina (295-308-311–914) carded Sunday’s second-best round to remain in fourth place overall. Lady Gamecock senior Kristy McPherson, the SEC Player of the Year and two-time defending champion, led the first two rounds of the tournament, but carded her first SEC Championship round above par since 2000 on Sunday, scoring a 9-over-par 81. She finished third at four-over for the tournament.
The remainder of the leaderboard also stayed the same from Saturday to Sunday, with No. 9 Vanderbilt (306-301-312–919) taking fifth, followed by Arkansas (297-316-312–919), No. 15 Georgia (299-311-327–937), Kentucky (309-311-324–944), Mississippi State (317-311-324–944), Louisiana State (324-326-325–975), Ole Miss (319-322-341–982) and Alabama (318-329-336–983).
Golfers faced blustery conditions on the University Club of Kentucky’s par-72, 6,153-yard “Big Blue” championship course. The tournament scoring average rose by nearly three strokes on Sunday as winds in Lexington gusted up to 30 miles per hour.
Nine holes played at least one-half stroke above par on the day and only Arkansas and LSU turned in a lower score on Sunday than they had on Saturday.
The teams will now turn their attention the NCAA Regionals, to be played during the second weekend of May at campus sites.
