Final Results

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Samford's Bailey Gray blistered the par-72, 6,168-yard LPGA International Golf Course Monday by posting a sizzling 3-under-par 69 en route to the championship title of the esteemed LPGA Xavier Collegiate Invitational. Gray finished the three-day tournament with a 54-hole total of 4-under-par 212 and defeated Daytona State College's Tiffany Chan by two strokes.

"I'm very happy for Bailey," said Samford head coach Rachel Ingram. "Today, she came out and played some outstanding golf and I'm extremely proud of her for closing the deal. She was able to capitalize on some great shots and she is very deserving of this title. Bailey is one of the hardest workers that I've ever been around and she plays with a lot of passion. This was a great accomplishment for her."
 
Gray, Samford's talented junior from Trussville, Ala., claimed the first Individual Medalist honors of her collegiate career Monday and posted her lowest three-day total as a Bulldog (73-70-69 = 212).
 
Gray entered the third round of play trailing Mercer's Lacey Fears by a single stroke. Fears carded a final-round score of 74 on Monday to finish the tournament in third place. As a team, Mercer claimed the championship title of the LPGA Xavier Invitational with a 54-hole total of 893 (305-296-292).
 
Rounding out the top-five teams in this year's annual tournament were Daytona State College (300-301-300 = 901), Morehead State (302-294-305 = 901), Xavier (304-306-304 = 914) and Stetson (309-301-308 = 918).
 
Samford turned in its best round of the tournament Monday and jumped three positions to finish the talent-laden event in seventh place. The Bulldogs fired a third-round score of 301 and concluded the 54-hole competition with a total tally of 927 (315-311-301). Samford finished just three strokes behind sixth-place North Florida (305-307-312 = 924).
 
"I was glad to see our players come back today and turn in their best score of the tournament," Ingram said. "I told them that they didn't have anything to lose today and that they'd already done an outstanding job this fall. I was hoping that they would come out and finish the tournament with a bang, and they did that with a great job of competing."
 
The Bulldogs' Gray improved on all three days of the 2013 LPGA Xavier Collegiate Invitational and posted a thrilling 3-under-par 69 Monday to win the tournament by two strokes.
 
Samford's Natalie Mitchell posted the team's second-best score of the tournament with a 54-hole tally of 232 (82-73-77). The Bulldogs' senior native of Germantown, Tenn., fired her lowest score of the competition Sunday with a 1-over-par 73 and was aided by the first hole-in-one of her career.
 
"I'm extremely excited for Natalie and that she was able to get her first hole-in-one," said Ingram. "It's fitting that she was able to get it as a senior and we're blessed to have been a part of it."
 
Rounding out Samford's scoring at the LPGA Xavier Collegiate Invitational on Monday were senior Alex Jasper (79-83-78 = 240), freshman Sydney Needham (81-85-77 = 243) and junior Emily Stallings (84-92-80 = 256).
 
This week's tournament proved to be Samford's final competition of the 2013 fall season.
 
So far this year, under the direction of first-year head coach Ingram, Samford has recorded top-notch finishes of first, second, seventh and eighth place. The Bulldogs cruised to the championship title of the 2013 FedEx Memphis Women's Intercollegiate on Sept. 10, and then earned a runner-up finish at the talent-laden Great Smokies Intercollegiate on Sept. 17.
 
"We've had a good fall season, but there is still a lot of room to improve," Ingram said. "Right now, we'll just take the rest of this semester to improve and get better, and to prepare to have a successful spring season."

Final Results