TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (seminoles.com) – Senior Morgane Metraux and sophomore Amanda Doherty both finished in a tie for fourth place in the individual standings, and the Seminole women’s golf team finished in second place in the team standings as play in the 2018 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Tallahassee Regional Championship at the Don Veller Seminole Golf Club came to a close. The Seminoles’ second place finish advanced them to the NCAA Championship Finals for the school-record third consecutive season.
Alabama (-33), Florida State (-25), Furman (-18), Arizona (-11), Washington (-10) and Wake Forest (-5) advanced to next week’s NCAA Championship Finals held May 18-23 at Karsten Creek Country Club in Stillwater, Okla. The three advancing individuals from non-advancing teams include Micheala Williams of Tennessee (-9), Jillian Hollis of Georgia (-7) and Jess Yuen (-6) of Missouri.
“Qualifying for the NCAA Finals in three consecutive years, that’s pretty special,” said head coach Amy Bond. “For us, qualifying for the national championship is like making the Elite Eight in basketball. It’s a really big deal for us, and I’m proud of the players and previous players who have gotten us to this point.”
Florida State enjoyed its best round of the season – a 12-under par 276 — to move up from a tie for third after two rounds and into second place in the final standings. The Seminoles’ played the second best round of the day for the second consecutive round. Additionally, the Seminoles’ round of 276 is tied for the fourth lowest single round score in school history.
In tying the school record for best team finish in an NCAA Regional Championship (second), the Seminoles placed two players (Morgane Metraux and Amanda Doherty, both tied for fourth) in the top five of the individual standings in an NCAA regional for the first time in school history. The individual scores of 206 by Metraux and Doherty are tied for the sixth best in school history and ranks the best in school history in NCAA regional of finals competition.
Morgane Metraux (Lausanne, Switzerland) tied her career best with her 66 in the final round of the championship. She played a near perfect round with all 18 holes scored at par or better and six birdies. Metraux birdied her final hole of the round to tie her career-best score of 66.
“Today i putted really well,” said Metraux. “I holed a lot of putts; that was really the key for me. I didn’t birdie any of the par 5s, so I lost a little there, but i played the par 3s and par 4s really well. That was the key.”
In addition to tying her career-best score of 66, Metraux earned her eighth career top five finish, finished as Florida State’s leader for the 12th time in her career and carded her best career third round score.
Sophomore Amanda Doherty, who carded a career low 66 in the second round, also finished in a tie for fourth place in the individual standings with a third round score of 71. She finished below par in each of the three rounds of the tournament and earned a personal best 10 under par tournament score of 206. Doherty totaled five birdies during the final round.
Freshman Kathleen Sumner (Charleston, S.C.) finished in a tie for 16th place in the individual standings as she carded a career-low single round score of 68 in the final round. During the Tallahassee Regional Championship, she set personal records for lowest round score (68), lowest 36-hole score (145) and lowest tournament scored (213).
“I was really excited to play today,” said Sumner. “Right off the bat, I birdied the first hole and bogeyed the second. All of a sudden, I got hot and birdied three holes in a row. I was just hitting it really well all day and trusting my putter, which is also a really important part. It means a lot (to contribute) to this team performance. I’m really happy and glad I could contribute. I’m very proud of everyone.”
Seniors Kim Metraux (Lausanne, Switzerland) and Kayla Jones (Milton, Ga.) finished in a tie for 30th and a tie for 34th respectively.
Each of the Seminoles four players finished under par or within two strokes of par as Florida State finished with a 25 strokes under par score of 839 – its best of the season.
“This is the healthiest we’ve been all year long,” said Bond. “The girls proved today that they can go toe-to-toe with anybody. The national championship should be interesting as there are 24 great teams vying for eight spots in the national leg, so anything is possible.”
FLORIDA STATE NOTES: The Seminoles will play in the NCAA Championship finals for the 10th season (1992, 94, 99, 03, 04, 06, 10, 16, 17, 18)…Florida State is playing in the NCAA Championship Finals for the third consecutive year…it marks the first time in school history the Seminoles have competed in the NCA golf championships in three consecutive seasons in school history…Florida State’s best NCAA Championships finish was 10th place in 2010…Seminole head coach Amy Bond has been a member of seven of Florida State’s 10 NCAA Championship Finals teams (1999 as a player; 2004, 2004, 2006 as an assistant coach; 2016, 2017, 2018 as its head coach)…Florida State has finished in the top three in the NCAA Regional Championships in a school-record three consecutive seasons (second at Shoal Creek in 2016; third at Columbus in 2017 and second at Tallahassee 2018)…Morgane Metraux’s 66 in the second round of the NCAA Tallahassee Regional Championship marked the 17th time in school history that a player has carded a 66 or better in a single round…thee current Seminoles (Amanda Doherty, Kim Metraux and Morgane Metraux) have all carded at least one round of 66 during their Florida State careers… Morgane Metraux has carded her career-best score of 66 three times…Metraux’s and Doherty’s scores of 6 under par 66 in the NCAA Tallahassee Regional Championship are tied for the fifth best scores vs. par in school history.
NCAA Tallahassee Regional/Par 72/May 7-9, 2018
Don Veller Seminole Golf Course/Tallahassee, Fla./Final Florida State Results
2/18-Florida State, 286+277+276=839
T4-Morgane Metraux, 72+68+66=210
T4-Amanda Doherty, 69+66+71=206
T16-Kathleen Sumner, 72+73+68=213
T30-Kim Metraux, 73+71+73=217
T34-Kayla Jones, 75+72+71=218
NCAA Tallahassee Regional/Par 72/May 7-9, 2018
Don Veller Seminole Golf Course/Tallahassee, Fla./Final Round Team Results
1-Alabama, 282+276+273=831
2-Florida State, 286+277+276=839
3-Furman, 280+283+283=846
4-Arizona, 290+281+282=853
5-Washington, 273+289+292=854
T6-Wake Forest, 285+289+285=859
T6-Clemson, 285+279+295=859
8-Georgia, 287+292+287=866
9-UNLV, 295+283+289=867
10-Missouri, 296+290+291=877
11-Tennessee, 285+296+97=878
T12-Vanderbilt, 289+292+299=880
T12-Denver, 297+290+293=880
14-Kennesaw State, 296+293+296=885
T15-Coastal Carolina, 309+302+294=905
T15-College of Charleston, 307+306+292=905
17-Richmond, 314+301+297=912
17-Albany, 314+311+952
