Stanford freshman Andrea Lee
(Stanford Athletics)
NEW ORLEANS, LA (February 20, 2017) -- No team is hotter than the Stanford Cardinals. After beginning the final day of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate in seventh place Stanford rallied to an 11-stroke victory and their third win a row and second since the spring restart of the season.
With the forecast shaky for Tuesday the decision to play the final 36-holes on Monday was made and Stanford got in a rhythm early and never looked back as they finished 1-under and well in front of second place Florida (+10). Oklahoma State (+11) and Miami (+11) shared third while Miami (+13) was fifth.
Stanford made their move in the second round. Trailing first round leading Miami by six-strokes, the Cardinals put together a tournament best 10-under score to take the lead. The round was so good that it was one shot shy of tying the program record 18-hole score, an 11-under tally, at the 2015 Branch Law invitational.
"One of the best rounds of team golf I have seen in my career," said head coach Anne Walker. "The conditions were tough with gusting winds that were changing direction. The team showed up ready to compete."
The Cardinals were led throughout the 54-hole tournament at English Turn Golf & Country Club by freshman Andrea Lee and senior Casey Danielson.
Lee bounced back from a first round 4-over 76 with consecutive 4-under 68 tallies that put her at 4-under and in a tie for second place. Danielson led the individual race after two rounds before settling for a 3-under and tied for third finish. Throughout the tournament Danielson used rounds of 72-67-74.
Also finishing inside the top-25 for Stanford were freshman Albane Valenzuela (T10; +1) and junior Shannon Aubert (T24; +5).
In the medalist race Arizona sophomore Haley Moore broke through and recorded her first career individual title.
"I played very steady these past two days," said Moore. "Whenever I would make a bogey I would come back with a birdie. I remained calm during the 36-hole day, as there was a lot of golf to play as well as knowing that anything can happen. Being this is my first win it means a lot because I have came close before to winning a tournament and to come back to win means a lot. I have been working very hard on every part of my game."
Moore finished her week 6-under as she overcame a two-stoke deficit at the start of the final round. The final round started slowly with an opening hole bogey on the 10th before it turned around with five birdies and just one bogey the rest of the way.
On this day Moore decided to save her rally for late as she birdied four times between the second and eighth holes to surge to the title.
AGC Spotlight: Arizona's Haley Moore continues to Shine
Behind Moore the top-5 was rounded out by Stanford's Lee, Miami's Dewi Weber and Danielson of Stanford in third while UCF's Ashley Holder and Alice Hewson shared fifth at 2-under.
-Stanford and Arizona athletics contributed to this story
ABOUT THE
Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate
Tulane University and the Allstate Sugar Bowl team
up
to bring many of the nation’s top women’s collegiate
golfers to the Crescent City for the Allstate Sugar
Bowl
Intercollegiate Golf Championship. 54-hole
tournament
with team (best four scores of five players) and
individual competitions.
View Complete Tournament Information