NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – Ariana Macioce tied for second, and the Georgia Southern women’s golf team took third Tuesday at the Texas State Invitational, their opening tournament of the spring at The Bandit Course.
Macioce (+7) finished two strokes behind medalist Leonie Harm (+5) of Houston and tied with Lois Kay Go of Boston College. It’s the second top-5 and third top-10 finish of Macioce’s career. The sophomore led the tournament in par-4 scoring and ranked second in pars with 37.
Georgia Southern (+59) was five strokes behind tourney host Texas State (+54) and 10 strokes behind champion UTSA (+49).
Iben Hvass (+18) tied for 25th, and Ansley Bowman (+19) tied for 30th. Yeji Shin (+20) tied for 32nd, and Lauren Coe (+21) tied for 36th.
The teams finished off the second round, which was suspended last night due to darkness, this morning and played the third and final round this afternoon.
Macioce shot 72-76 in the final two rounds, and Hvass carded 80-77. Bowman shot 80-79, and Shin posted 78-78. Coe notched 83-75.
The story
Round 3
Macioce got off to another great start by parring her first six holes and played her final six holes of the tournament at even par. Coe was 1-under through her first four holes of the round and was 1-over through 14 holes. Hvass finished her tournament with five consecutive pars, and Shin played her first five holes of the round even par.
Round 2
Macioce ran off 11 straight pars to start her round before birdieing the par-4, 322-yard 14th hole. She logged par on five of her last seven holes for a 72. Shin birdied her second hole of the round, the par-4, 384-yard fifth, and finished the round with four straight pars.
Quotable from coach Emily Kuhfeld
“We are pleased with our first event of the spring. The team did a great job getting down to business and attacking the golf course. I am very excited with the improvement I have seen since the fall and feel like this is a positive step towards our program goals. The depth of our team showed this week, with all five players in the top-40. Ariana has continued to improve, and it is nice to see her have a great tournament. I am so proud of how she handled herself out on the course! We will get a little bit of rest and tune up and then head right back out to Jacksonville this weekend.”
Next up
The Eagles travel to the Amelia Island Collegiate in Jacksonville, Fla., Feb. 20-22.