Nov. 5, 2002

Kiawah Island, S.C. - The University of Missouri women's golf squad registered its best effort of the Edwin Watts/ Palmetto Intercollegiate in Kiawah Island, S.C., on Tuesday finishing fifth after shooting a 291 in the final round. The Tigers finished just two strokes behind fourth-place Alabama with a three-round total of 906. The tourney was played at the par-72 Oak Point Country Club.

Sophomore Maria Ohlsson registered the best finish of her career for the tourney shooting a final-round 73 and 220 to place 10th for the tournament. Maria's older sister Elin was consistent firing a final-round 75 to finish with a total of 228, good for 23rd in the tourney.

Freshmen Denise Knaebel and Stephanie Turner both struggled in the second round, but were impressive in the final stanza, giving career-best efforts firing rounds of 71 and 72 respectively. Turner finished the tourney in 28th (79-79-72=230), while Knaebel finished in 34th improving her final round by 11 strokes from her second round effort (79-82-71=232). Head coach Stephanie Cooper said she was happy with how the Tigers continued to battle and compete, especially after facing some adversity early in the tourney.

"We had some young kids really step up today and overall, we played very smart golf throughout the tourney," Cooper said. "We started to get comfortable with the course and played through some tough course conditions."

Freshman Kelli Strubinger finished in 57th (79-78-84=241) while junior Mindy Bullard, who was playing in the tournament as an individual, ended the tourney in 54th (80-79-81=240).

The Intercollegiate was the Tigers' final tournament of the fall. Mizzou begins competition in the spring on Feb. 24-25 at the Central District Invitaional in Parrish, Fla. For more information on Tiger women's golf, log on to www.mutigers.com.