Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
Lady Tar Heel Invitational
Women's Golf Wins 2008 Lady Tar Heel Invitational
10/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Oct. 5, 2008
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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - In the truest definition of team golf, the Wake Forest women's golf team carded its second straight round of 291 to finish at 12-over and win the 2008 Lady Tar Heel Invitational by 12 shots Sunday afternoon at the UNC Finley Golf Course.
The Deacons used a complete team effort over the three days to win its first tournament of the season. Sophomore Natalie Sheary and senior Nannette Hill led the team the first two days shooting 3-under and 1-under, respectively. On Sunday, senior Jean Chua carded a 2-under 70 and freshman Cheyenne Woods came through with her best round of the season, a 1-under par 71. Junior Dolores White added three steady rounds over the weekend.
"I'm just so proud of our students," said head coach Dianne Dailey. "They brought it back so well after last week and they played so much smarter this week. They executed the shots they needed to execute and to have three solid rounds under 295, that is where we need to be to be winners."
"They started out really solid today and even though we didn't make a lot of birdies, they hung in there and still managed to post a good round," Dailey continued. "It was a total team effort this weekend and I am proud of them for that."
Chua and Sheary both finished the tournament at even par, 216 to share medalist honors with North Carolina's Catherine O'Donnell. Chua's round of 70 on Sunday was her lowest round of the season. Sheary led the tournament at 3-under par coming into the day and carded a 75 on Sunday to finish at even.
As a team, the Deacons carded rounds of 294-291-291 to win the tournament by 12 strokes over host North Carolina. The win was the first for Wake since winning the Landfall Tradition last October.
The Deacons led by 11 shots coming into the final round and saw its lead shrink to just eight shots by the turn. North Carolina ultimately pulled to within five shots early on in the back nine but a strong finish from Chua and Woods gave the Deacons enough to pull out the victory.
Chua got off to a bit of a rough start, making a bogie on her third hole of the day but she found her swing and birdied the sixth hole to get back to even. After a bogie on 11, Chua made back-to-back birdies on holes 13 and 14 to move to 1-under for the day. She parred out on the back nine to post a 35 and had one hole to play. She would convert the birdie on No. 1 and carded a round of 70.
"I putted really well today and hung in there," said Chua. "My driver was off the first couple of holes but I started hitting my 3-wood and after a few holes, I got my swing back. It stated with my short irons and worked its way up to my driver."
This was the first time Chua has claimed medalist honors in her career.
Sheary had a bit of a rough day but she hung in nicely even though the short putts weren't falling. She carded 15 pars and just three bogies for her round of 75. This marks the second time in Sheary's young career she has claimed medalist honors as she also won the Northrup Grumman Regional last February.
Woods started the day on the third hole and opened with six pars and a bogie through No. 9. On the back, Woods posted her first birdie on No. 13 and another on 16 to move to 1-under. She bogied 17 but rebounded with a birdie on the tough par-4 18th to post 2-under 34 on the back nine. She would finish off her round with a pair of pars on holes one and two to finish with a 71. Woods ended the tournament tied for 28th.
Hill's round looked much like Sheary's round as both players couldn't get a putt to drop all day. Like Sheary, Hill also carded a round of 75 on Sunday. She shot rounds of 71 and 72 in the first two rounds and wound up finishing the tournament tied for fourth.
White played steady on the front nine making just one bogie to card a 37 but a couple of tough holes on the back nine gave her a final round of 78. She opened with a 79 but played well yesterday posting a 76. White finished the tournament tied for 53rd.
North Carolina made a run behind O'Donnell but wound up carding a final round 292 to finish at 24-over. Virginia, who was tied with UNC to start the day, shot a 297 on Day to finish fourth behind Vanderbilt.
The Deacons will have a couple of weeks off before heading to the Landfall Tradition, the site of its last victory, on Oct. 24-26.
Be sure to check out Chua's blogof the weekend on Deacons Direct.
Players Mentioned
