Lewis wins SEC title Arkansas second

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LOUDON, Tenn. – University of Arkansas senior Stacy Lewis led wire-to-wire winning her second Southeastern Conference medalist honor at Tennessee National Golf Course in Loudon, Tenn., Sunday. Arkansas finished second overall, the program’s best finish in school history. “What a weekend,” said Arkansas head coach Shauna Estes-Taylor. “Stacy made it pretty exciting there at the end. It was a stressful few moments. Florida is a great team and played a tremendous round of golf on a very difficult golf course. We would have had to shoot nine under to catch them today.” Ninth-ranked Arkansas finished the day with an eight-over 296 for an 891 (297-298-296) finishing second to No. 5 Florida who counted 874 (297-293-284) with a final round four under par. Eighth-ranked Georgia was third (300-298-305) with 903 followed by No. 10 Auburn (310-309-291) with 910. “It took a complete team effort for the entire weekend,” said Estes-Taylor. “That’s what you want this time of year.” Lewis had her hands full for the win in the final round. The Woodlands, Texas, native opened with a two-shot lead over Florida’s 16-year-old star, Hannah Yun, and the duo battled all day in the final group. Lewis held on to her lead until the 14th hole, a medium distance par five that moved left-to-right. Lewis blasted her tee shot and Yun matched it down the fairway but the Lady Gator elected to chance it with her second shot in an attempt to reach the green in two. She did just that and birdied the hole after two-putting. Lewis laid up and had a makeable putt for par but pushed it passed the hole to fall even with Yun. The duo played 15 even and the crowd grew as a playoff looked emanate. Lewis, however, had other ideas.

The 16th hole plays right-to-left and is bunker-free. Lewis split the middle of the fairway on the par four on her first shot and put her second on the green. She sank a birdie putt to take the one stroke lead. She was helped out when Yun bogeyed the hole as Lewis’ lead grew to two strokes with two holes remaining. Both players made par on the 17th over the water and come into 18 with the gallery waiting. Lewis added a bit of drama to the ending with a bogey on the 18th hole but Yun answered with a bogey of her own sealing the win for Lewis. Lewis finished the day even and shot 214 (69-73-72) for the tournament one better than Yun who posted a 215 (73-70-72). The SEC victory is the second for Lewis and she is believed to be the only golfer at Arkansas to have ever won two SEC titles. But as Estes-Taylor pointed out, it was a team effort. Junior Lucy Nunn posted her career-best SEC finish with a balanced weekend to finish tied for seventh with a 221 (73-74-74). Sophomore Kristin Ingram tied for 20th with a 231 (79-77-75) and sophomore Alex Schulte tied for 30th with a 235 (76-76-83). Freshman Kelli Shean rebounded from a tough opening round to tie for 36th with 237 (87-75-75). Nunn played the back nine even with a bogey on 14 and a birdie on the difficult par three 17th hitting over the water. Shean opened her final round with an even front nine while Ingram, who was four over on the front, was one-under coming into the clubhouse. “Lucy was key for us this week,” said Estes-Taylor. “She’s been working really hard on the mental process and her results this weekend show how committed she is. Kristin stepped up after a rough start and had a tremendous finish and Kelli could have given up after her first round but she hung in there. We needed her and counted her score today.” Arkansas awaits word of its NCAA Regional selection late in the day Monday. For more information regarding Razorback women’s golf or University of Arkansas athletics please visit www.LADYBACKS.com.