FGCU WGOLF: A-SUN Championship Day Two Recap

Sophomore Natalia Nassar fired a two-under 71 in the second round of the A-SUN Championship this afternoon to lead the FGCU women's golf team to a second-place standing entering Tuesday's final round at Chateau Elan's Legends Course.

"I thought we played much better today," FGCU head coach Sarah Trew said. "We managed the course very well and when we did miss, it was key that we were in the proper spots. I am very proud of the way we finished, and we have some good momentum going into tomorrow. Natalia finished her round on fire and really helped us turn in a good team score. Natalia, Laura, and Kelsy are all in a great position boasting Top-10 standings. We are looking to come out tomorrow with the same mindset we had today."

Nassar jumped 10 spots in the standings in large part due to three consecutive birdies to close out her round. Outside of a bogey on the ninth, she finished with a par on every other hole and sits seven strokes off Kennesaw State's Medy Thavong, who leads the tournament after a four-under 69 on Monday.

The Green and Blue entered the round three strokes behind North Florida, but jumped the Ospreys behind a second-round 301, which was 12 strokes better than their in-state rival. FGCU's 618 is 19 strokes behind first-place Kennesaw State, who has the top three individuals in the standings after a 290 on Monday.

FGCU finished the day strong by shooting a collective four-under over the final three holes. Freshman Laura Edmonds finished second on the team with a pair of birdies on Monday, including one on the 17th, and is positioned in a tie for fifth individually. Meanwhile,senior Kelsy Holbert shot her second-consecutive 77 of the tournament and is tied for seventh.

Thus, the trio of Nassar, Edmonds and Holbert are all in the top 10. Should that remain through Tuesday's final round, it would be the first time in program history the Eagles have done that in the A-SUN Championship.

Senior Madeline Marck-Sherk birdied the 16th to finish at 77 (+5) for the day. She is tied for 13th as she goes for her third career top-10 finish at the event. Junior Ailsa Clark is tied for 20th with a two-round 167 (+21).

Fans can follow along during the seven-team tournament via GolfStat. The link to live scoring can be found here.

Notes
Edmonds leads all payers with 27 pars through two rounds, while Holbert's 4.80 par-5 scoring average is tied with Kennesaw State's Clara Aveling for the tournament lead.

Team Standings (#GolfStat ranking as of April 16)
1. #37 Kennesaw State - 309-290---599 (+15)
2. #112 FGCU - 317-301---618 (+34)
3. #68 North Florida - 314-313---627 (+43)
4. #146 Stetson - 326-312---638 (+54)
5. #142 Jacksonville - 345-319---664 (+80)
6. #230 Lipscomb - 341-345---686 (+102)
7. n/a North Alabama - 368-345---713 (+129)

Individual Standings
4. Natalia Nassar - 81-71---152 (+6)
T-5. Laura Edmonds - 78-75---153 (+7)
T-7. Kelsy Holbert - 77-77---154 (+8)
T-13. Madeline Marck-Sherk - 81-78---159 (+13)
T-20. Ailsa Clark - 82-85---167 (+21)