SANDESTIN, Fla. – With a 23-stroke lead heading into the final round of the Sun Belt Conference Championship, Coastal Carolina’s women’s golf team just needed to stay focused for their first Sun Belt title, and that they did.
The Chanticleers brought home the title by shooting a five-over 289 in today’s final round and it was the low score of the day. CCU finished the Championship with a 20-over 872 (297-286-289), winning the event by 34 strokes over second place Troy’s +54 906 (300-306-300).
Malene Krolboll Hansen was the overall winner, but that honor was not decided until the final six holes. She had consecutive birdies on the 13th, 14th and 15th holes to open up a five shot lead and ended the match with pars on 16, 17 and 18.
She finished with a two-under 69 in today’s final round and her winning score total of two-under 211 (73-69-69) was five strokes better than the second place finisher and teammate Sena Ersoy. Her winning total was also the second lowest all time score by an individual at the SBC Championship.
The win is Hansen’s third on the season and first Conference Individual Championship. In her previous three championship (two in Big South), she had a runners-up finish, a third place finish and finished fourth last season.
Ersoy had a tremendous Championship as well in her first season with the Chants. The junior came out hot in today’s opening round, shooting a two-under 33 in the first nine holes. She was actually tied with Hansen going into the back nine.
The second nine saw Ersoy shoot an even-par 36, finishing the day tied for the low round of the day at two-under. Her second place finish was three-over 216 (77-70-69).
Marie Lunackova shot a two-over 73 in today’s final round and finished the event tied for fifth with an 11-over 224 (74-77-73).
The Chants had one more player among the top 10 spots in the event. Frantiska Lunackova shot a seven-over 78 in today’s round, but finished her three rounds tied for eighth after finishing with a 12-over 225 (77-70-78).
Stephanie Henning ended the tournament tied for 37th after shooting a 12-over 83 in today’s round. She finished with a 24-over 237 (73-81-83).
Following the tournament CCU’s Malene Krolboll Hansen, Sena Ersoy and Marie Lunackova were named to the All-Tournament Team. Also named to the Commissioner Academic List were Hansen, Marie Lunackova and Stephanie Henning.
Rounding out the top five behind CCU and Troy were Georgia Southern (914) with Texas State just one shot behind the Eagles (915). Three teams tied for fifth with each shooting a 921; they were South Alabama, Arkansas State and Georgia State.
Texas Arlington finished eighth (925), Appalachian State shot a 930 to finish ninth, Little Rock finished 10th (961) and Louisiana Monroe was 11th (967).
With the Sun Belt crown, the Chants have captured the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Regionals which will be played May 7-9. The sites for this year’s regional championships are Tallahassee, Fla., Austin, Texas, Madison, Wis., and Stanford, Calif. The NCAA will announce where CCU will play during its selection show Wednesday, April 25.