Women's Golf Hosts 2nd Annual Eat-A-Peach Collegiate

J. Andrew Lockwood
Senior Editor / Columnist

After last year’s 6th place finish in the Eat-A-Peach Collegiate, the Mercer women’s golf program was looking forward to seeing the friendly confines of the Idle Hour Country Club in Macon once again. Gearing up for the tournament that saw national powers Georgia, Florida State, Furman, Coastal Carolina, and Miami (FL) roll through, the Bears fought to a 10th place finish in the 12 team field.

UGA’s Marta Silva Zamora would win the two day tournament, finishing at -4 (70, 70). Zamora’s performance in the Eat-A-Peach was unmatched by any other player as she birdied 9 of the 36 holes over the course of the tournament. Georgia would finish first in the team standings at +23, one stroke lower than rivals Florida State and Furman who tied at +24 to finish second. Coastal Carolina and Georgia State would round up the top five in the team standings at +30 and +31 respectively.

The hometown Mercer women posted consistent scores for both rounds, shooting 314 as a team for both the first and second rounds. Head Coach Gary Guyer commented after the tournament on his Twitter account, “Our EAT A PEACH Colleigate was an amazing tournament. Our team played well and close to our ability.”

Individually, Alex Quagliata would go low for the Bears, finishing in a tie for 21st after a +9 effort (77, 76). Teammates Kimberly Graff (+13), Monica Kelsey (+14), Kaitlin Marrin (+16), and Aurelie Wiriath (+22) would follow as Leslie Choucard (+22) and Alicia Poole (+23) rounded out the Mercer lineup playing as individuals.

After the long two day tournament that saw its fair share of sunshine and rain, Alex Quagliata had a solid performance for the weekend, elaborating, “My swing has come around the past week and my short game has really come around. It’s been encouraging to really hit the ball consistently and solid.” She added, “ I was really looking forward to this tournament because it was one of the first times I’ve been that confident going into a tournament. I was a little intimated by playing with top 25 schools like FSU and UGA, but it was exciting to play with the best players in the country and I felt like I handled the pressure pretty well. It’s good for us as a team to play those caliber teams to test yourselves every once in a while.”

Monica Kelsey, the other senior to play in the tournament for the Bears, posted a 78 and 80, but played the front nine holes of the tournament extremely well. “It was fun to play with such great players and compete on our home course,” Kelsey said. “Idle Hour Country Club was great to let us host the tournament and Coach [Guyer] did a wonderful job planning such a nice and fun event,” she added.

The Bears will travel to Daytona Beach, Florida this weekend to play in the 54 hole, competitive LPGA Invitational.