Lady Bulldogs In Ninth After First Day At SEC Championships
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Mississippi State's Lady Bulldogs stand in ninth place after the first day of competition at the SEC Championships. The Lady Bulldogs fired a 317 on the first day and are one stroke ahead of rival Alabama, two strokes ahead of in-state rival Mississippi and seven ahead of Louisiana State. MSU is eight strokes behind host Kentucky.
Freshman Sofie Andersson leads the Lady Linksters shooting a 73 in the first day of action. Sophomore Beth Irwin is in a tie for 31st firing a 78 in the opening round. Natalie Booth is in a tie for 47th shooting an 82. Senior Anna Knutsson is two strokes back in a tie for 53rd and Janet Dyer is in 59th shooting a 94.
"I am proud of Sofie (Andersson). I thought she had a solid round today," said head coach Christi Sanders. "As far as the rest of the team I thought we struggled by have way too many penalty shots. We are going to go out tomorrow and try to improve our position."
Tennessee is the team leaders with a 291 in the first round. Defending champion South Carolina is four strokes back and Florida stands in third with a 296 opening day total. The SEC West is lead by Arkansas who is in fourth with a 297. Defending medalist, Kristy McPherson, of South Carolina, leads the individuals firing a 68 in the first round. Lina Axelsson of Arkansas and Tennessee's Violeta Retamoza are in a tie for second shooting 70's. Tennessee's Mary Jan Fernandez, Jessica Shepley, and Georgia's Kelly Froelich are tied for fourth firing 71 after the first day.
The championships will continue Saturday and conclude on Sunday. Both days start times are set for 9 a.m. ET.
SEC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Dates: 4/18 - 4/20 (Today: 4-18-2003)
Par: 72 Yardage: 6,153
Teams First Rd. 9 Mississippi State 317 1 Tennessee 291 t9 Sofie Andersson 73 2 South Carolina 295 t31 Beth Irwin 78 3 Florida 296 t47 Natalie Booth 82 4 Arkansas 297 t49 Anna Knutsson 84t5 Auburn 299 59 Janet Dyer 94t5 Georgia 299 7 Vanderbilt 306 8 Kentucky 309 9 Mississippi State 317 10 Alabama 318 11 Mississippi 319 12 LSU 324