Oct. 26, 2008 WILMINGTON, N.C. - Junior Dolores White made six birdies in her round of 2-under 70 to come from behind and claim her first career medalist honors as the Lady Deacons ran away with the team title at the Landfall Tradition Sunday afternoon. The No. 9 ranked Demon Deacons entered the final round with a 23-shot lead and proceeded to extend that margin to 28 with a final round 295. Wake dominated throughout the entire tournament as all five players finished in the top-15 and the Deacs carded the lowest team score all three days. "This was just a great team effort all weekend," said Wake Forest head coach Dianne Dailey. "It was fun to watch because the team was so balanced that any of the five players could have won the tournament." Despite having such a big lead heading in to the final round, the Demon Deacons still found it easy to concentrate on Sunday. "Sometimes when you have such a big lead, it gets really easy to lose your focus," said Dailey. "But with all five of them having a chance to win, there was no let down. Our goal coming into the day was the have the lowest team round but the players also had some competition between themselves. That was fun to see." This was the second straight year that Wake has swept the team and individual titles at the Landfall. Last season, the Deacs won by nine shots as Nannette Hill captured her first career medalist honors. The win was also the second straight team title for Wake as it also dominated the Lady Tar Heel Invitational earlier this month. White had come into the weekend with a season-low round of 76 but went on to shoot rounds of 75-73-70=218 (+2) to claim her first career medalist honors. White made a total of six birdies on the day, including two in her final three holes to secure the victory. "I am really happy for Dolores," Dailey said. "It was especially nice to see because she fought back from a number of injuries. She played very, very well this weekend and made some really good putts. She birdied three holes there at the end and she made a really good bogie on 18 to keep her in it." Senior Jean Chua also had a good finish, making birdie on three of her final four holes to finish in third place with a round of 72. Chua made three bogies and two birdies in her first nine holes and a double bogie on No. 11 dropped her to 3-over on the day. After a birdie on No. 13 and a bogie on 15, Chua was 8-over with four holes to play. She would birdie the 16th, 18th and 1st hole to finish the tournament at 5-over. "Jean had another good week and I am really happy for her too," Daliey said. "She worked real hard the last month and it was good to see her hard work pay off." Chua ended the fall strong, earning a share of medalist honors at the Lady Tar Heel and a 3rd place finish this weekend. She finished with a 74.3 stroke average and four of 12 rounds at par or better. Sophomore Natalie Sheary opened her final round with a birdie and two bogies for an opening nine of 1-over 37. After her second birdie of the back nine on No. 13, Sheary was within one shot of the White at 4-over. But a pair of bogies coming in dropped her to a tie for 4th with a final round 75. Sheary still had a very good fall, earning medalist honors at the Lady Tar Heel and finishing the fall with a team-low 74.2 stroke average over her 12 rounds. Woods had the individual lead coming into the final round but just couldn't get anything going on Sunday. She carded matching nines of 39 for a final round 78 to finish tied for 6th. The highly touted freshman had a solid fall campaign, playing in all 12 rounds and averaging 75.9 including a pair of 1-under par 71s. Hill got off to an up-and-down start making three bogies and a double but also adding a pair of birdies in her first seven holes. She would then post seven pars on the back nine and finish with a final round 81. She finished the tournament tied for 15th. Hill had a good four-year run at the Landfall as she won the tournament last fall and finished tied for 4th as a freshman and a tied for 25th as a sophomore. The senior ends the fall with a 75.2 stroke average over 12 rounds. After a slow start in their first two tournaments of the season, the Lady Deacs turned it on the last month and had a 292.6 stroke average over the final six rounds in two dominating wins. "The students made the adjustments and really worked hard in practice after the first couple of tournaments," Dailey said. "Our putting has gotten so much better since the beginning of the season as well. We made quite a few long putts the last two tournaments and that really helps you score well." "We have such a balanced team that it allows everyone to go out and play pressure free because everybody is capable of playing well," Dailey continued. "These last two tournaments will get the students to work hard this winter and we will be ready to go in the spring." The Lady Deacons will open the spring portion of the schedule at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes, Calif., on Feb. 9-11. 1 Wake Forest
+16 297-288-295=880
|