Johnson City, Tenn. ? The Stetson women's golf team stands in fourth place out of eight teams after the first round of the 2008 Atlantic Sun Conference Championships at The Ridges Golf & Country Club in Johnson City, Tenn. Sophomore Danielle Jackson (Seminole, Fla.) and freshman Alex Banham (Peterborough, England) stand in a tie for 10th place individually.
Banham and Jackson each carded rounds of eight over par 80 to put themselves just inside the top 10 in the 40-golfer field. Juniors Christine Fraser (Kingston, Ont.) and Ashley Kozlowski (Windsor, Conn.) are one shot back after twin 81s to tie for 15th place. Sophomore Lauren Darnell (Gainesville, Ga.) fired an 82 to put herself in a 19th place tie individually but her score did not count towards the team total.
Banham made 10 pars and eight bogeys in a consistent round while Jackson took the “scenic route” to the same score; she rebounded from a double bogey on the par-five eighth hole with a nice birdie on the short par-four 11th and seemed to have a round in the mid-70s in the offing until finishing with three straight bogeys to land at +8. Kozlowski birdied the very first hole to get off to a great start but the 501-yard eighth also bit her with a triple bogey. Double bogeys at 10 and 18 made for unfortunate bookends to her second nine.
Fraser's scorecard featured a solid stretch of four consecutive pars until a roller-coaster stretch from 11-16 that resulted in a birdie, three bogeys and a double bogey before finishing with two much-needed pars. Darnell's tournament began in rocky fashion with five bogeys and a double bogey in the first nine holes to give her a seven over-par 43 on the front, but she was able to ease the sting somewhat on the back, erasing a 17th-hole double bogey by becoming the only golfer of the day to birdie the 376-yard par four 18th.
Host East Tennessee State has rolled out to a 17-stroke lead after the first day; the Lady Bucs are at 10 over par as a team thanks to individual leader Laura Jansone's 68. She holds a nine-shot lead over Mary Mattson (Campbell) and was the only player in the field to break par today. Campbell is in second place at +27 followed by a close pack of three that includes Belmont (+32), the Hatters (+34) and Jacksonville (+36). Mercer, Gardner-Webb and Lipscomb respectively round out the field at +47, +57 and +65.
Golf fans can follow along with live scoring through GolfStat.com at the following link: http://www.golfstatresults.com/public/index.cfm?tournament_id=1256
