Samford University
Day Three (JSU Tournament)
Women's Golf Opens Season With Championship Title At JSU Tournament
9.6.11 | Women's Golf
Sept. 6, 2011
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The Samford University women's golf team cruised to the championship title of the 2011 Chris Banister Golf Classic on Tuesday as the Bulldogs kicked off their fall schedule with an opening-round score of 294 at the Hampton Cove Golf Course. The rain-shortened Chris Banister Golf Classic was hosted by Jacksonville State University.
"The team competed very well in their first event of the season in rainy difficult conditions," said Samford head coach Ryan Mayberry. "I was extremely proud to see four of our players in the top 10."
Due to the incessant rain storms throughout Alabama this week, the only round of play was held Sunday at Hampton Cove.
Samford dominated the sole round of competition and carded a tournament-best score of 294. The Bulldogs rallied for an eight-stroke victory against the second-place Jacksonville State Gamecocks and turned in the school's second best single-round score in history.
Samford's school-record low round was a 291 tallied Sept. 16, 2008 Great Smokies Intercollegiate hosted by Western Carolina University at the par 72, 5,922-yard Waynesville Country Club.
The Bulldogs finished the 2011 Chris Banister Golf Classic with four players in the top 10.
Samford junior Kayla Turner and sophomore Alex Jasper both led the way with identical first-round scores of 1-over-par 73, while senior Sarah Butts and sophomore Natalie Mitchell both tallied marks of 2-over-par 74. Both Turner and Jasper finished tied for second place in the tournament, while Butts and Mitchell placed tied for seventh.
True freshman Emily Stallings turned in a first-round tally of 79 in her first collegiate competition. She finished the tournament tied for 17th place.
The 2011 Chris Banister Golf Classic was held at the northern terminus of the Trail in Huntsville at Hampton Cove, a 54-hole facility with terrain that drastically changes from one side of the property to the other. The Highlands Course was recently renovated to convert it back to its original design as a true Scottish links course, with rolling fairways and long, waving grasses.
Completely opposite in design is the River Course, the only Robert Trent Jones layout without a single bunker. The River Course is a throwback to the way courses were built long ago. The dirt was merely pushed up to create the greens and tees, leaving all else, including massive oak trees, as is.
The Samford University women's golf team will next be in action Monday as the Bulldogs begin play in the 2011 Gonzaga Invitational being held in Worley, Idaho. The action is slated to begin Monday with two rounds of competition followed by the final round of play to be held Tuesday.
