Raiders, Long take second place in Memphis

Tuesday, April 2

Memphis, TN

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Middle Tennessee

Memphis Women's Intercollegiate

4/2/2019 3:07:00 PM | Women's Golf

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Long sets school record 54-hole total of 206

By: @MTAthletics

Final Results

GERMANTOWN, Tenn. – Senior Hanley Long's title bid came up just short Tuesday as her runner-up performance led the Blue Raider Women's Golf team to a second place finish at the Memphis Women's Intercollegiate.

Long carded five birdies in a six-hole stretch to start the back nine on the final day and held a share of the lead coming up 18 before giving a stroke back on the final hole to finish one stroke back of low medalist Michaela Fletcher of Memphis.

Middle Tennessee turned in a 7-over par scorecard on the week (289-282-288=859) to fall by just five strokes to champion Penn State (+2). The Raiders defeated the tournament host Memphis Tigers (+14) by seven strokes on their home course.

"We made a lot of birdies down the stretch and Hanley played really great, she just came up one shot short of winning the title," head coach Chris Adams said. "It was an incredible round of golf to follow today."

The Blue Raiders collected three Top 6 individual finishes at Ridgeway Country Club as sophomore Sophie Burks and senior Jenna Burris joined Long near the top of the leaderboard.

Long's 5-under par 66, which is tied for the second best round in program history, gave her a 7-under par (72-68-66=206) performance on the week. The 54-hole total of 206 broke the previous school record of 207 set by Samantha Gotcher at the 2015 Conference USA Championship.

"I struck the ball pretty well today, rolled a lot of putts, and chipped really well," Long said. "Pretty much everything was just rolling really well today and I was in the right mindset so I'm very pleased with how the round turned out."

Burks used a 1-under par 70, her second consecutive round under par, to move up six spots on Tuesday and finished tied for fourth in the field at 1-over par (75-69-70=214). The sophomore now boasts three consecutive Top 10 finishes, two of which saw her land in the Top 5.

Burris turned in a 3-over par 74 on the final day, but a strong first day allowed the senior to remain high up the leaderboard as she finished tied for sixth on the week at 2-over par (71-70-74=215).

"Sophie played awesome as well to get another Top 5 and Jenna was right there behind her," Adams added. "Everybody contributed this week and I certainly like they way we hung in there and really battled Penn State."

Sophomore Caroline Caudill, playing as an individual this week in her first tournament of the spring, just missed a Top 10 finish as she tied for 11^th at 6-over par (71-71-77=219).

Senior Kailey Collier and freshman Catherine Caudill rounded out the scores for the Blue Raiders with the pair both tying for 30^th place at 15-over par on the week.

Middle Tennessee now turns its attention to the Conference USA Championship on April 15-17.

The Blue Raiders second place finish in Memphis will allow them carry some momentum to Verandah Club in Fort Myers, Fla., a course where they have found success before with back-to-back league titles in 2015 and 2016.

"It's great to have a finish like this and gain momentum as we prepare for conference," Adams stated. "I think we're going to have a load of confidence going into it."

"I've been putting in a lot more time into my golf game this semester, so to have this finish is definitely a huge confidence booster for me going into conference, but it was also great seeing Sophie, Jenna and Caroline step up and play really well at the right time in the season," Long added.