Women's Golf Leads SunTrust Invite After Day Two

Monday, March 10

Gainesville, FL

12:00 AM

Florida Gators

2003 Sun Trust Lady Gator Inv.

Women's Golf Leads SunTrust Invite After Day Two

Tuesday, March 11, 2003 | Women's Golf

Each of Florida's playing five rank in the top 20, as the University of Florida women's golf team leads the SunTrust Invitational by five strokes with a two-round score of 587 after Monday's competition at the University Golf Course. Michigan State's Dayna Burleigh is currently the top individual with a 4-over-par 144.

After inclement weather halted Sunday's play, teams began at 8 a.m. with a shotgun start as golfers returned to the holes they had left off at when play was stopped. After the first round of play, Florida was in third place with a score of 293. The Lady Gators shot a 14-over-par 294 in the second round to give themselves a five stroke lead over Tennessee.

"Most of our golfers had to play 36 holes today and that was a slight disadvantage," head coach Jill Briles-Hinton said. "I think we are in great shape. Our conditioning really paid off and we hung in there. Our girls have a much better round within each of them and hopefully it will come out tomorrow."

Freshman Aimee Cho (Orlando, Fla.) is currently tied for sixth place with teammate Amanda Dick (Clearwater, Fla.) with a seven-over-par 147. Cho birdied the last two holes in the first round to finish with a score of 73. She also birdied holes nine and 12 in the second round to finish with a second round score of 74. Dick also birdied two holes in both the first and second rounds to finish with scores of 74 and 73, respectively.

Senior Brittany Straza (Fort Myers, Fla.) finished the second round tied for 12^th after shooting an 8-over-par 148. Senior Jeanne Cho (Bradenton, Fla.) and sophomore Andrea Vander Lende (Longwood, Fla.) also finished in the top 20 as they both tied for 19^th place with a two-round score of 150. Vander Lende shot an eight-over-par 78 in the first round, but came back to shoot a three-over-par 73 after birdying the first and eighth holes in the second round.

The Lady Gators also have four individuals playing in the tournament. Freshman Camila Gonzalez (Bucaramanga, Colombia) would have led the tournament field into the second round, but was disqualified at the end of the first round. Junior Joy Stephenson (Fort Myers, Fla.) finished tied for 22^nd with a score of 151. Sophomore Whitney Code (Tampa, Fla.) and freshman Tarah McNaughton (Bradenton, Fla.) finished tied for 37^th and 49^th place with scores of 153 and 156, respectively.

Florida will look to defend their 2002 title as they hit the links for the final round of the SunTrust Invitational Tuesday morning with a shotgun start to begin at 8 a.m. Live scoring of the event can be found on www.golfstat.com.

Team Scores

1. Florida 293-294--587

2. Tennessee 289-303--592

3. Florida State 295-300--595

4. Tulane 289-307--596

5. Michigan State 302-295--597

6. Oklahoma 298-305--603

7. Baylor 301-303--604

8. Ole Miss 317-288--605

9. Ohio State 308-304--612

10. South Florida 307-310--617

t11. Mississippi State 314-310--624

t11. NC State 321-303--624