May 11, 2012

Day 2 Results

Day 3 Tee Times

COLUMBUS, Ohio (seminoles.com) - The Florida State women's golf team enjoyed the fifth best team score of the second round and are only three strokes under the cutline entering the third and final round of the NCAA Central Regional Championship on the Scarlet Course at The Ohio State University Golf Club. The Seminoles are in 10th place and only three strokes behind eighth place Ohio State in the fight for the final spot to advance to the NCAA Championships. With a two round score of 615, the Seminoles are within five strokes of sixth place Auburn, four strokes of seventh place NC State and three strokes of Ohio State. Tennessee, which is currently in ninth place, is one stroke ahead of Florida State and only one stroke behind Ohio State. The top eight finishing teams in the regional championship will advance to the national championship round May 22-25 at the Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn.

Seminole senior Maria Salinas is in a tie for second place in the individual standings with a 1 under par total of 143 through the first two rounds of the three round event. She is currently the highest ranked player not on one of the top eight teams and would qualify for the NCAA Championships as an individual if the tournament ended today. The top three individuals not on one of the top eight teams will punch their tickets to the championship round.

"I am very proud of how the girls performed today," said head coach Amy Bond. "We improved our team score by 13 strokes - only Vanderbilt, who improved by 16 strokes, played better golf than we did today. Maria continued to play well and we counted three more manageable scores - not where I think we can be - but better than we were in the first round. I think the confidence and the momentum is on our side and I am really excited about our chances tomorrow."

Salinas (Lima, Peru) led the Seminoles in the second round with an even par score of 72. Coupled with her 1 under par score of 71 in the first round she has a two day total of 143. She is just two strokes behind the overall lead of Lisa McCloskey of Southern California. McCloskey carded a four under par score of 68 in the second round to take over the individual lead.

Salinas recovered from a potentially disastrous start to finish with an even par score of 72 in the second round. She carded a double bogey on her second hole and a bogey on her fifth hole to move to three over par before settling into a groove. Salinas was 3 under par over her final 13 holes of the round with three birdies and 10 holes at par to finish with a 72. She is in a tie for second place with Marina Alex of Vanderbilt and Lauren Stratton of Vanderbilt.

"We are all playing with a lot of confidence right now," said Salinas. "Being on the course was exciting today because we all played better than we did yesterday. We just have to keep our momentum moving forward and we will be okay to advance. This is what we have worked for and we are going to accept noting but playing well tomorrow and advancing to nationals."

The remaining four golfers in Florida State's line-up fell into line after a tough first round that saw the Seminoles count three scores in the 80's. The Seminoles counted scores of 75 (by Hannah Thomson), 76 (by Jessica Negron) and 78 (by Laure Castelain) and Florida State improved its team score by 13 strokes as compared to the first round. Besides Salinas (who is at even par for the tournament) each of the reaming four Seminole golfers showed a marked improvement in the second round - Thomson by eight strokes (83-75), Negron by four strokes (80-76), Castelain by four strokes (82-78) and Malin Jansson by one stroke (81-80).

Thomson (Perth, Australia) realized the biggest improvement of the day among her Seminole teammates as she improved her score by eight shots. After a first round 83 had her tied for 101st place in the individual standings, her 75 in the second round helped jump 40 spaces in the individual standings - she is now tied for 61st place in the individual standings.

Negron (Ocala, Fla.) improved her standings by 21 positions in the individual standings (from tied for 68th to tied for 47th) as she improved her score to a 4 over par 76. She increased her number of holes scored at par (10 vs. 7) and decreased her number of scores above par (7 vs. 9) in helping the Seminoles move up the team leaderboard.

Castelain (Bordeaux, France) improved her score by four strokes and is now tied for 73rd place in the individual standings with a two round total of 160. She began the round tied for 91st place and improved her standing by 18 positions. Jansson (Nykvarn, Sweden) has a two round total of 160.

"We have to come out with the same fire in our spirits tomorrow as we did today," said Bond. "Qualifying for nationals as a team is the only thing we have on our minds. It's what we have worked four all season long and feel that we have put ourselves in a very good position. The girls are excited and will all be ready to play at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning."

Florida State will tee off at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday in the final round and will play with Georgia and Arkansas. The Seminoles are three strokes behind the cut, the Lady Bulldogs are five strokes out and the Lady Razorbacks are six strokes back.

2012 NCAA Central Regional Championship/May 10-12, 2012/Second Round Florida State Results
Scarlet Course at The Ohio State University/Columbus, Ohio/Par 72
10/24.  Florida State     314   301   615
T2.     Maria Salinas     71    72    143
T47.    Jessica Negron    80    76    156
T61.    Hannah Thomson    83    75    158
T73.    Laure Castelain   82    78    160
T83.    Malin Jansson     81    80    161

>b>2012 NCAA Central Regional Championship/May 10-12, 2012/Second Round Team Results
Scarlet Course at The Ohio State University/Columbus, Ohio/Par 72
1.   Southern Cal       588   13.   Notre Dame           624
2.   Vanderbilt         600   14.   Ole Miss             626
3.   Virginia           604   15.   Michigan             631
T4.  Purdue             608   16.   Harvard              632
T4.  Oregon             608   17.   South Florida        634
6.   Auburn             610   T18.  Texas State          635
7.   NC State           611   T18.  Kentucky             635
8.   Ohio State         612   20.   East Carolina        639
9.   Tennessee          614   21.   Texas San Antonio    643
10.  Florida State      615   22.   UNC Wilmington       645
11.  Georgia            617   23.   Siena                654
12.  Arkansas           618   24.   Butler               655

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