Raiders take third at UAB Spring Invitational

Tuesday, March 16

Birmingham, AL

Middle Tennessee

UAB Spring Invitational

3/16/2021 11:59:00 AM | Women's Golf

Results (PDF)

Bebelaar earns first career Top 5 with runner-up finish

By: @MTAthletics

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – A lengthy lightning delay on Monday turned the tide for the Blue Raiders at the UAB Spring Invitational, as they finished the weather-shortened event after 36 holes in third place at 32-over par (299-309=608).

Middle Tennessee was 11-over par and one stroke back of the lead at the conclusion of round one, but the lightning rolled in after just a few holes in the second round and upon returning to play late Monday afternoon and concluding round two Tuesday morning low numbers became hard to come by.

"We really struggled with the conditions after the delay, especially on some really tough finishing holes this morning," Head Coach Chris Adams said. "I thought we put ourselves in position to contend for the title, but we just left a few too many shots out there."

All six Blue Raiders finished in the top half of the field as the squad finished seven strokes back of tournament host and champion UAB (+25) and four strokes back of second place Xavier (+28), while beating out High Point (+35) for third place.

Sophomore Molly Bebelaar claimed the top spot for the Blue Raiders, using rounds of 2-over par 74 and 1-over par 73 to earn the runner-up spot and her first career Top 5 finish.

Senior Sophie Burks matched the lowest round of the tournament – a 2-under par 70 – In round one but struggled after entering Monday's delay at 1-over par in the second 18 to finish 8-over par (80) for the round and tied for seventh at 6-over par for the tournament.

"I thought Molly had a great showing this week and Sophie had a solid tournament despite a tough finish," Adams added. "It was a good bounce back for those two after some struggles in our last tournament."

Fellow veteran Caroline Caudill placed tied for 22^nd in the field at 13-over par and was matched by Taylor Edlin and Blue Raider individual Catherine Caudill.

Madison Smith, who was competing for the first time this spring, started strong in Birmingham but fell victim to the weather delay as well and finished the week tied for 29^th at 14-over par, one stroke back of her trio of teammates.

The Blue Raiders now have just shy of two weeks to prepare for their next event, the Chattanooga Invitational (March 29-30) hosted by Chattanooga at Black Creek Club.

"We have to work on staying in the moment and finishing stronger, but we have some time before we go to Chattanooga and will work hard to correct our mistakes before we tee it up again," Adams exclaimed.