GREENWOOD, S.C. – Banthita "Pearl" Phoncharatkun earned all-tournament honors in leading the Lee women's golf team to a second-place finish in the Meredith Insurance Fall Kickoff on Monday and Tuesday on the Links at Stoney Point. The talented junior posted a 54-hole total of 76-69-71 (216), 1-under on the par 72 course.
The Lady Flames tallied 299-298-296 (893) over the 36 holes and posted a score that pleased Coach Geandra Almeida. Host Anderson University, paced by Kennedy McGaha's sizzling 7-under par 209 grabbed top honors. Lee's 893 was two strokes better than the 895 scored by Wingate University. A total of 17 schools took part in the tournament.
Graduate student Supuschaya "Yui" Srichantamit tied for 17th in the field of 89 individual golfers with a 74-78-74 (226) and a tie for 12th. Sophomore Hannah Nall came in with 73-74-80 (227) and tied for 19th. Senior Emily Richie was next with a 76-77-77 (231) and deadlocked for 29th. Freshman Olivia Ireland 80-79-75 (234) and junior Hope Harrell 84-74-78 (236) rounded out the Lee scoring.
The Lady Flames will return home and get ready to proudly host the NCAA DII South Regional Preview next Monday and Tuesday at the Cleveland Country Club.
Coach Geandra Almeida Thoughts:
"I am very proud of the way we started the season. I think we played three solid rounds and we improved every day. It was great to see everybody stepping up and contributing to the overall team score.
"We are excited to keep building on what we did this week and we have a few days to get ready to play some of the best teams in the country next week.
"We also had some great individual performances with "Yui" finishing in the top 12 and "Pearl" bringing home All-Tournament team honors, shooting even-par for 54 holes.
