Bradley sophomore Bari Erais gave the Braves the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Golf individual champion for the third consecutive year, but Southern Illinois fired a school-record and final-round 290 to win the team championship Tuesday afternoon at WeaverRidge Golf Club. The team title was SIU's first since 2000.
2007 Tournament Live Scoring (click here)
Erais shot rounds of 79-70-70 to finish with a 3-over final score of 219. Following individual titles by Kelly Dillon in 1999 and 2002 and Meaghan LeBlanc in 2005 and 2006, Bradley has won at least a share of the individual title in five of the last nine years. Erais’ Bradley teammate, junior Rikki Sobel, finished three shots back as the runner-up, turning in a career-best round 72 Tuesday to finish at 222 (+6).
On the heels of Bradley’s best-ever MVC Tournament round (296) Monday, the Braves turned in a final round 295 Tuesday, but the host team’s effort was trumped by the Salukis, who claimed their seventh overall team championship and first since 2000. Highlighted by Tuesday’s 290, Southern Illinois set the MVC Tournament team scoring record with a three-round 899. Tulsa’s three-round total of 900 had stood as the record since 1995.
Josie Lowder paced the Salukis by finishing alone in third with a three-round 223 (+7). Braidy Hood, who set the MVC Championship single-round record with a 68 Tuesday, tied for fourth at 224 (+8) and Christine Zoerlein also finished in the top by taking eighth with a 229 (+13). Kelly Gerlach gave the Salukis a fourth top 10 finisher, sharing the spot with Illinois State’s Stacey Miller at 231 (+15).
Locked in a second-place battle with Bradley throughout the final round, Missouri State ended up third, firing a final round 294 for a 912 total. The Bears received top 10 finishes from Sally Hinton (T4th, 224) and Amy Phalajivin (T6th, 228). Hinton was named the Valley’s Golfer of the Year during the post tournament banquet.
Golfer of the Year: Sally Hinton, Missouri State
Newcomer of the Year: Molly Schemm, Northern Iowa
2007 All-Conference Team
Bari Erais, Bradley
Rikki Sobel, Bradley
Kelly Gerlach, Southern Illinois
Braidy Hood, Southern Illinois
Josie Lowder, Southern Illinois
Sally Hinton, Missouri State
Missy Linnens, Missouri State
Amy Phalajivin, Missouri State
Tiffany Hockensmith, Illinois State
Breanne Smith, Indiana State
Molly Schemm, Northern Iowa
Coach of the Year: Diane Daugherty, Southern Illinois
Course Information. WeaverRidge Golf Club (309/691-3344), 5100 WeaverRidge Blvd. Peoria, Illinois was the host site for the championship and played to a par of 72 at 6,043 yards. The course was designed by Hurdzan-Fry. WeaverRidge was ranked #2 in Golf Digest's "Best New Upscale Courses of 1998".