Mercer’s Lady Bears golf team picked up their first tournament win of the season at the Macon Eat-A-Peach Collegiate at Oakview Golf Course on Sept. 18-19. The Bears were to post a very strong performance as defending champions. Mercer succeeded in fulfilling their expectations, placing first out of 10 teams, leading the second-place team by an astounding 43 strokes. Mercer also claimed the top four individual spots in what turned out to be a very dominating performance by the Bears.
Sophomore Lacey Fears was the individual and team leader for the Bears, posting an opening round score of 73 and following up with an equally impressive 72. She finished one over par for the tournament. Fears’ efforts were enough to place her in first place for the number-one individual spot.
Fears earned the number-one spot by beating out fellow teammates Mary Alice Murphy and Sarah Louie Brown, who tied for second place. Murphy finished the first day three over par, shooting a 75, but improved her second day score by three strokes. Brown shot one over the first day, posting a 73, and performed in a similar manner the second day, shooting a 74.
Juniors Aurelie Wiriath and Kimmy Graff rounded out Mercer’s team competition and tied each other for fourth place individually, posting a two-day total of 149. As a team, Mercer posted a two-day total of 587, easily besting second place Shorter College and third place Armstrong Atlantic, which shot 630 and 634 respectively. Last season, Mercer won the tournament with a cumulative total of 594.
With this being the second-straight year that Mercer has won the event in their home-town Macon, they are proving that home field advantage is an extremely important aspect of the game.
The Lady Bears will look to build upon their strong tournament finish over ther course of the next few months of the season. They will be facing some tough competition in courses to come. One of those matches includes the Rainbow Wahine Invitational at the Kapolei Golf Course in Oahu, Hawaii.
The Lady Bears next compete in the LPGA Invitational on Oct. 7-9 in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Women's golf dominates, repeat as Eat-a-Peach champions
