Arkansas Tech holds at 10 to finish season

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- A day after shooting the fourth-best round of the day, Arkansas Tech turned in its highest team card of the tournament as the Golden Suns held on to stay tied for 10th at the end of stroke play, ending their season.

The No. 9 Golden Suns turned in a 37-over 329 to finish the three-day tournament with an 84-over 960 to sit tied for 10th with West Texas A&M. Arkansas Tech hit par on just 30 holes among the four cards counted while getting birdies on just six.

No. 27 Southwestern Oklahoma State, the only other Great American Conference team participating, improved to a tie for fourth with a 24-over 328 on the final day. The Bulldogs were led by senior Gloria Choi, who improved to first until hitting double bogeys on 16 and 17 to finish with a 2-over 75. Choi's final round left her in second behind medalist Jaime Jacob of Cal State-San Marcos with a 1-over 220.

The Golden Suns were led by freshman Jaqueline Klemm, who turned in her worst card of the week with a 12-over 85 to drop 17 spots to 27th. The No. 32 golfer in Division II hit par on her opening six holes before a double-bogey on 16 and bogey on 18 left her with a 3-over 40 on the back nine. She failed to hit a single birdie on the day after six in Wednesday's second round, finishing with a 17-over 236.

Senior Pia Nunbhakdi tied Wednesday's card of 9-over 82 to drop three places to a four-way tie for 32nd. The No. 64 golfer struggled throughout the day, hitting just two birdies and seven pars to turn in her tournament card of 19-over 238.

Senior Peerada Piddon shot a 4-over 77, propelling her up 16 places to end in a six-way tie for 36th. Starting on No. 10, the No. 10 golfer had three birdies on the back nine but struggles on 12 and 16 left her with an even-par 37 going into the front nine, and she hit par on five holes to finish with a 20-over 239 for the tournament.

Henderson State senior Luisa Gartmann also ended up tied for 36th with an improvement of 20 places on her tournament-best 3-over 76. Gartmann birdied No. 11 before dropping to 2-over 39 on the back nine, but while she bogeyed five holes, the Hanover, Germany, product hit par on 11 holes in her final collegiate round.

Arkansas Tech freshman Sydney Staton dropped 10 places to a six-way tie for 62nd with a 12-over 85 in the final round. The No. 89 golfer got par or better on just seven holes with two double-bogeys, both on the front nine, to finish with a 28-over 247.

Allie Weiner continued to struggle as she turned in a 21-over 94 for her final round with just five pars on the day. The sophomore from Maumelle shot an 11-over 48 on the back nine before hitting a 10-over 46 on the front to finish with a 58-over 277.

No. 5 Florida Tech jumped to first from fourth with a 13-over 305 for a stroke-play total of 47-over 923. No. 3 Cal State-San Marcos improved to second with a 51-over 927, and No. 6 Indianapolis dropped to third with a three-day total of 55-over 931. Joining the top three in today's match play will be No. 1 Barry (T4-938), No. 27 SWOSU (T4-938), No. 12 Limestone (6-939), No. 2 Dallas Baptist (7-940) and No. 11 Findlay (8-944).

The top eight will play two rounds of match play today before the top two advance to Saturday's championship.

Sports on 05/17/2019

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