PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. – The FGCU women's golf team posted a runner-up effort Tuesday in a 15-team field at the Lady Bison Bay Point Classic.
The Eagles fell four strokes shy of tournament host and champion Lipscomb. FGCU put up a valiant effort in Tuesday's third and final round, besting Lipscomb by one stroke. However, the Bisons clinched the team title with a four-shot advantage, 909-913.
FGCU trailed Lipscomb by eight heading into Tuesday's final round. The Green & Blue beat third-place North Alabama by 13 shots.
"Couldn't have asked for a better start to our spring season," said FGCU women's golf coach Shannon Sykora. "We hung in there all the way to the end, but just struggled to finish."
Three Eagles finished T10th or better on the individual leaderboard. Freshman Grace Rigby-Walden (Gerrards Cross, England/The Chalfonts Community College) paced the Eagles' starting five with a tie for third at 9-over 225, a season- and career-best finish.
Rigby-Walden matched her best round of the three-day event Tuesday with a 73. She closed with bogey-free final nine holes that included two birdies.
Sophomore Lousiane Gauthier (Canelones, Uruguay/Colegio Stella Maris) and freshman Leonie Wulfers (Muenster, Germany/Gymnasium Hochrad) both tied for 10th with identical three-round 230 totals. Wulfers carded a team-low round of 72 in Sunday's opening round.
Sophomore Anna Claire Bridge (Collierville, Tenn./Collierville HS/FAU) finished in a tie for 17th to round out the counting scores for FGCU.
The Eagles return to action Feb. 20-21, competing in the Atlantic Invitational hosted by FAU in Boynton, Beach, Fla.
For complete coverage of the women's golf program, follow the Eagles on Twitter and Instagram at @FGCU_WGOLF, on Facebook at /fgcuwgolf and online at www.FGCUathletics.com. You can also sign-up to have news on FGCUwomen's golf or other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
FGCU STARTING FIVE:
TEAM LEADERBOARD:
COACH SYKORA
After a highly successful decade leading Barry University, Shannon Sykora was named the FGCU women's golf head coach on June 16, 2022. During his career with Barry, the Buccaneers won the 2017 NCAA Division II National Title, while finishing runner-up in 2014 and placing third in 2013 and 2022. Sykora led Barry to 28 tournament wins in his decade as head coach including four Division I tournament victories. He has produced five WGCA All-America First Team selections, nine WGCA Scholar All-Americans, one honorable mention All-American, the 2013 NCAA Division II Individual National Champion, and the only D-II player to compete in the inaugural Augusta Women's Amateur.
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 94 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 47 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 20, 2021-22 and No. 25 in 2022-23) beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as four of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green & Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.66 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2022 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 27 consecutive semesters. The past seven semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 - being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
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