ISU women golfers conclude fall season with fourth place finish at Payne Stewart

The Indiana State University women's golf team closed the 2011 fall season with a fourth place finish on Tuesday at the Payne Stewart Memorial competition.

ISU head women's golf coach Gregory Towne said the team concluded the season "with a respectable finish" despite not having captain Christina Beyerl, junior golfer Reece Feducia being under the weather and playing three freshmen.

The Sycamores finished in fourth place after posting a total of 947 after three rounds of play.

Sophomore golfer McCall Christopher finished the 54-hole tournament tied for first place with two other women golfers from Missouri State University, two more from Houston Baptist's and one player from Creighton University.

Christopher came close to attaining medalist honors following a one-hole playoff to decide the winner.  

The Sycamore is just the second in ISU history to finish tied for first or share the lead at the end of the rounds.  Former Sycamore golfer Breanne Smith won the Snowbird Intercollegiate in 2010.

Christopher shot a one-over 73 in the final round of the tournament.  The round score was a career low for the sophomore.  She began the tournament on Monday with a 74, and in the afternoon round, she shot a 78.  Christopher's three round total of 225 ties her for third place on the Sycamore's all time best list in a 54-hole tournament with former Sycamore Astrid Parsson.

Next up for the Sycamores was junior golfer Emily Dixon who finished 13th with a career low score of 232.  In the opening rounds on Monday, Dixon shot 75 and finished on Tuesday with an 82.

"McCall and Emily have both made amazing progress on their swings and playing skills.  The fact that McCall had her lowest 54-hole total by 19 shots is unprecedented," Towne said.  "Emily has just scratched the surface of how good she is going to be. All of the upper class women have layered new skills and shots every week into their games."

Junior golfer Reece Feducia finished 33rd shooting an 85 and 77 on Monday and 81 on Tuesday for a final score of 243.  Sycamore freshman Amanda Smith tied for 39th (247) and was followed by freshman teammate Gina DellaCamera who tied for 61st (264).  

Competing as an individual freshman golfer, Andrea Frankiewicz finished tied for 57th with a 261.

"Our stats speak for themselves," Towne said.  "We established new career bests for every player in all categories, 18, 36, 54 holes consistently led tournaments in birdies made and set several team records despite the fact that we are still a young team."

Conference opponents Missouri State took first place with 909 and took the team title.  Towne said that defeating the Bears senior player squad would be a big challenge going into the spring season when Indiana State University hosts the conference championship.

The Sycamores will return to competition Feb. 18, 2012 when they travel to Birmingham, Ala. for the Birmingham-Southern University Ann Rhoads Invitational at Oxmoor Valley Golf Course.

2011 ISU Women's Golf Fall Season:

•  Indiana University Invitational (ISU Ties for 2nd)

•  Ball State University Cardinal Classic (Feducia 2nd, ISU 3rd)

•  Kansas State University Marilyn Smith/Sunflower Invitational (ISU ties for 9th)

•  Butler University Invitational (Feducia 3rd, ISU 3rd)

•  Western Michigan University MAC Preview (Feducia 2nd, ISU 11th)

•  Missouri State University Payne Stewart Memorial (Christopher tied for 1st, ISU 4th)

Informations from www.gosycamores.com