Lady Paladins Move Into 16th

May 19, 2005

SUNRIVER, Ore. -

Starting the day in a driving rain storm and finishing in high winds, the 15^th-ranked Furman women's golf team shot a second round 301 at the 6,300-yard, par 71 Meadows Course to move from 20^th into 16^th with a two-round 608 total in the NCAA Division I women's golf championships.

The Lady Paladins got off to a solid start despite the weather and were at nine over as a team with three holes left to play.  Over those last three holes, however, Furman gave away eight shots to finish at 17 over on the day.

Sophomores Jenny Suh (Fairfax, Va.) and Theresa Paik (Silver Spring, Md.) recorded a pair of 73s and are in 21^st and 46^th, respectively, while junior Connor Atkinson (Charleston, S.C.) carded a 74 and is tied for 64^th overall.  Sophomore Monique Gesualdi (St. Augustine, Fla.) carded a double bogey on the final hole to finish with a 10-over 81, while freshman Sarah Sturm (Spartanburg, S.C.) bogeyed the final hole for an 81 of her own.  The duo is also shot the same on Tuesday, and is tied for 94^th at 157.

The difficulty of the Wednesday's weather was highlighted by Southern Cal, who entered the day with a tournament leading three-over, but went 29-over for the round to stand at plus-32 entering round three on Thursday.

Pepperdine, which recorded the low round of the day on Wednesday with an 11-over 295, is tied with Auburn atop the leaderboard at plus-18, while UCLA is third at plus-22 and California is fourth at plus-26.  The Duke Blue Devils round out the top five at plus-27.  Furman is four strokes out of 10^th-place and 13 out of fifth.

The Lady Paladins will begin teeing off hole No. 1 at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday.  Furman will be paired with Purdue and Texas A&M, the 17^th and 18^th place teams in the field of 24.

Live scoring of the NCAA Championship is provided at www.golfstat.com.

Furman Results

16^th             Furman                                           307-301=608

Furman Individuals

T31st          Jenny Suh                                       77-73=150

T46th          Theresa Paik                                   78-73=151

T64th          Connor Atkinson                              79-74=153

T95th          Sarah Sturm                                    76-81=157

T95th          Monique Gesualdi                            76-81=157