ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The Lee women's golf team opened the 2026 season with a 12th place finish in the World Golf Invitational that was staged at the Slammer and Squire Blue Course on Monday and Tuesday. The event was dominated by the Florida teams that won nine of the top 11 places.
Flagler College (883) walked away with first-place honors. Nova Southeastern University (892) was second, Lander University (894) placed third, the University of Tampa (895) finished fourth and Florida Southern College (906) rounded out the top five in the field of 16 teams.
Lander's Kajsa Lindqvist and Tampa's Justine Bayle tied for medalist honors, each shooting an even-par 216. Eckerd's Melissa Ball and Aubane Statiotis and West Florida's Millie Thompson posted 1-over par 217, placing third and rounding out the top five.
Lee had a final team score of 920 and Hannah Nall placed 22nd in the individual scoring with a 10-over par 226. After opening with a 79 she finished stronger with a 74 and 73 in the 54-hole event. Justine Emond was 37th (231). She had the Lady Flames' best round, firing a 2-under 70 in the second round.
Other Lee scores saw Olivia Ireland finish at 235. She had a pair of 78s. Lehane Louis Dumond carded a 76 in the final round and tallied a 236 while Emilia Nordstrom posted a 75 in her second round and finished play with a 237.
The Lady Flames will be looking forward to warmer weather for practice time and return to action on March 9-10 when they travel to Monroe, NC to play in the Dr. Jerry Surratt Women's Invitational.
Coach Geandra Almeida's Thoughts:
"Obviously it wasn't what we envisioned for the first event of the spring. We faced a lot of challenges, and this tournament definitely exposed some of our weaknesses and areas we need to keep working on if we want to be the strongest version of ourselves by postseason. But there's no reason to panic — it's really about getting back to work, making an honest assessment of what went wrong, and using it as fuel to improve.
My message to the girls has been very clear: as long as we learn from this experience, it's going to make us a better team. I'm actually excited to keep working with this group because they're willing to learn and grow every chance they get. We'll take what we need from this and keep moving forward."
