Women's Golf places 4th at BSC Southern Shootout

By Matt Green

BIRMINGHAM – Sophomore Lisa Persson shot 70-70-140 to finish in a four-way tie for first place and lead Shorter University to a fourth place finish at the Birmingham Southern College Southern Shootout hosted by the Highland Park Golf Course in Birmingham, Ala.

Lee University's Courtney Shelton won the playoff to claim medalist honors over Persson and Columbus State University's Kimesha Anthony and Nikki Crowley. Shelton shot a 3-under 67 in Monday's final round to help the Lady Flames (577) to an 11-stroke victory over Columbus State (588).

Methodist University (596), Shorter (603) and North Georgia (631) rounded out the top five at the 16-team, 91-athlete event that also featured Southern States Athletic Conference members Spring Hill College (640, 7th) and the University of Mobile (664, 13th). Berry College placed 11th with a two-day total of 661.

Persson came up just short in her quest for a third fall tournament title. The reigning SSAC Tournament champion won the Smoky Mountain Intercollegiate in September before taking the Chick-fil-A Collegiate championship last week at Stonebridge.

Persson led by a stroke entering Monday's final round and shot a second straight round of even par. Shelton, Anthony and Crawley surged into a tie with Shorter's ace on the last day with the tournament's only three under-par rounds.

Shorter's Maria Bengtson placed 13th (77-73-150) and Gabriela Murcia (79-74-153) finished 19th. Caitlyn Cook posted a two-day total of 82-78-160 to finish in a tie for 31st and senior Petra Muller placed 51st (84-81-165).

Freshman Isabella Baldacci competed as an independent and continued her consistent play – Baldacci shot 81-80-161 for the championship to finish 35th.

The Lady Hawks, coming off a program-best third place finish at the 2011 NAIA Women's Golf National Championship, concluded their 2011 fall preseason schedule with two tournament championships, a runner-up finish and the fourth place result in Birmingham.

Shorter won the Smoky Mountain Intercollegiate and Chick-fil-A Collegiate Invitational and came in second at the Mercer Eat A Peach Collegiate in Valdosta.