Bradenton, Fla. - The Stetson women's golf team stands at 22 over par and in fourth place after the first two rounds of the USF Waterlefe Invitational Monday at Waterlefe Golf Club. Senior Danielle Jackson (Seminole, Fla.) shot back-to-back rounds of even par 72 on the tournament's first day to put herself in third place in the medal race, five strokes off the lead. Freshman Alexandria Buelow (Palm City, Fla.) turned in the best Hatter score of the day with a two under par 70 in the second round and is tied for seventh overall.
Stetson started the day with a 17 over par 305 team score in the first round and found itself in fifth after the first 18 holes, but turned itself around with a five over par 293 its second time around the loop. Besides Jackson, the other three four scoring Hatters improved their scores in the second round as Buelow went 77-70=147 (+3), freshman Anna Hancock (Lakeland, Fla.) carded 77-76=153 (+9) and senior Lauren Darnell (Gainesville, Ga.) tallied 79-75=154 (+10). Hancock is tied for 23rd and Darnell is tied for 25th. Junior Alex Banham (Birmingham, England) had a tough 36 holes on the par 72, 5,998-yard layout, shooting 85-88=173 (+29).
Taylor Collins of defending NCAA Division II national champions Nova Southeastern was the only player in the field to break par twice; she leads the tournament at five under par, two strokes ahead of host USF's Shena Yang and five strokes better than Jackson. Yang recorded a tournament-low 66 in the second round.
NSU holds the team lead at +13, three strokes clear of the Atlantic Sun Conference's Campbell. USF is in third at 19 over par, Stetson is +22 and Daytona State is fifth at +32. Rounding out the field is McNeese State (+40), Arkansas State (+46), Troy (+46), Florida Atlantic (+47), Southern Miss (+53), Charleston Southern (+55), South Alabama (+56), Florida Gulf Coast (+58), Montana (+66), USF "B" (+70), UAB (+82) and Eckerd (+103).
The USF Waterlefe Invitational concludes tomorrow; the final round will go off in a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. Stetson will be paired with players from Daytona State and McNeese State; Banham will tee off in a group with former Hatter and current DSC Falcon Jen Gartin.
