Mercer Finishes Sixth at Johnie Imes Invitational

Monday, October 2

Columbia, Mo.

TBA

Mercer University

Johnie Imes Invitational

Mercer Finishes Sixth at Johnie Imes Invitational

10/3/2017 8:02:00 PM | Women's Golf

Results (PDF)

Schanen, Deems and Janiga lock in top-20 individual finishes

By: Gerrit W. Van Genderen

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Mercer women's golf team tied its program record for single-round lowest score of 285 with an impressive second round en route to a sixth-place finish at the Johnie Imes Invitational at The Club at Old Hawthorne on Tuesday.

The 14-team field played 36 holes Tuesday due to pending inclement weather in the Columbia, Mo. area on Wednesday. Mercer posted a third-round 297 to round out the tournament.

Mercer's 285 in the second round was tied for the second-lowest score (ETSU, 285 in second round) of any team over the three rounds of play. Tournament winner and host Missouri shot a 284 in the second round. It is the second time in as many weeks the Bears have posted a single-round 285.

Mercer Scorecard

6.	Mercer	303	285	297	+21	885
T-13	Payton Schanen	73	72	74	+3	219
T-15	Hannah Mae Deems	75	68	77	+4	220
T-19	Mary Augusta Janiga	77	71	73	+5	221
T-32	Terese Romeo (Individual)	72	78	75	+9	225
T-42	Karina Kukkonen	81	74	73	+12	228
T-59	Lauren Lightfritz	78	75	81	+18	234

MERCER ON THE TEAM LEADERBOARD
Mercer jumped five spots from 11th to sixth over the final two rounds of play Tuesday. The Bears finished two shots outside of the top-five and a comfortable 10 strokes ahead of seventh-place finisher Bradley (+31).

MERCER ON THE INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD
Mercer placed a season-best three golfers inside the top-20, led by Schanen (+3) and Deems (+4), who cracked the top-15 with impressive Tuesday efforts. Deems' four-under-par 68 was tied for the second-lowest score in the second round. Through 12 holes played, Deems was five-under-par for the second round with birdies on No. 12, 14, 3, 4 and 5.

Schanen overcame a tough start to the second round – four bogeys through the first seven holes – by notching birdies on four of her final eight holes played (No. 3, 8, 9 and 10). Janiga posted the second-lowest single-round score by a Bear with her one-under-par 71 in the second round. She used three birdies on No. 3, 9 and 10 to outweigh a double-bogey on No. 13.

COACH DRINKARD'S TAKE
"After we stumbled out of the gate Monday, I thought the team showed a lot of character today in how they responded," said head coach Michele Drinkard. "After two tournaments this fall, we have two personal-bests from Hannah Mae (Tuesday's 68) and Lauren Lightfritz (68 last week).

"We also have tied our program record single-round score twice. I can't wait to see those records fall in the near future."

UP NEXT
Mercer returns to competition at the Palmetto Intercollegiate in Kiawah, S.C. on Oct. 22-24. The tournament will be hosted by College of Charleston.

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