Tull, Barr lead women’s golf to third place finish
With junior Brooke Tull taking first individually, senior Shannon Barr’s improved play helped the Frogs to finish third.
By Chad Murray
Skiff Staff

The women’s golf team heads into their final tournament of the fall this weekend brimming with confidence thanks to its third place finish at the Furman Lady Paladin Invitational last weekend in Greenville, S.C.

“I think it was a breakthrough week,” head coach Angie Ravaioli-Larkin said. “It’s our best tournament finish at this particular tournament and we’ve been going there the past nine years, at least.”

Said senior Shannon Barr: “We’re real happy. We accomplished many of our goals this weekend. We’re very excited going into this next tournament and we want to win it.”

Junior Brooke Tull finished first individually, coming in three strokes ahead of Furman’s Leigh Turner.

“I really felt more confident going into this tournament that I could win, so I tried to build off of that,” Tull said.

Barr bounced back from a rough outing at the previous tournament, shaving 11 strokes off her final tally and finishing in a tie for 14th place.

“I switched putters before this last tournament and really just switched my mindset for this tournament,” Barr said. “I had been struggling with my putting for the first two tournaments and was not confident when I got over the ball.”

Ravaioli-Larkin said she was happy with Barr’s showing.

“I think Shannon had the biggest breakthrough,” Ravaioli-Larkin said. “She played pretty well the first day, especially coming off the tournament that she was coming off of. The last round, when she shot two under, was one of the biggest breakthroughs, because it wasn’t any big miraculous feat. She made a couple of more birdie putts and knocked in her three footers. As far as that last round, she really showed a lot of guts and determination to come out and finish off the tournament on a positive note.”

The team now takes their momentum to the Auburn Invitational, which tees off Friday.

“We need to go in with the mentality that we’ve got to keep focusing on ourselves and focusing on what helps us play well,” Ravaioli-Larkin said. “To go out and try to beat them, we can’t do that. We’ve got to go out and do what works for us, and that’s play one shot at a time.”

Chad Murray