Alex drops quarterfinal match at North and South Amateur

By A. Boggs

Junior-to-be Marina Alex dropped her quarterfinal match at the 108th North and South Amateur Championship 1-down to Isabelle Lendl, a golfer at the University of Florida.

Alex was two-up after nine holes, but Lendl birdied two out of her next four holes to move 1-up. Lendl then held on to come away with the win.

Marina's next tournament will be the U.S. Amateur in Charlotte, N.C., August 9-15.

Marina Alex advances to second round of 108th North and South Women's Amateur

By A. Boggs

Rising junior and first team All-American Marina Alex won her first round match at the 108th North & South Women's Amateur in Pinehurst, N.C., 5-and-4 over Chihiro Ikeda of the Phillipines. Alex, the number four seed at the prestigious match play event, will take on Austin Ernst of Seneca, S.C., an LSU signee.

Alex had five birdies in her round today, including three out of her last five holes. The Wayne, N.J., native will tee off at 8:02 Eastern on Thursday.

Commodore signee Rene Sobolewski of Buffalo, N.Y., who qualified for match play on Tuesday in an 18-hole qualifier, dropped her first-round match to number three seed Lindy Duncan on Wednesday. Sobolewski will enroll at Vanderbilt in August.

For a look at the entire 64-person bracket, click here.

Alex qualifies for U.S. Women's Amateur, Keith misses by one stroke

By A. Boggs

Rising junior and first team All-American Marina Alex qualified for the U.S. Amateur on Monday after registering co-medalist honors at U.S. Amateur qualifying at the Haworth Country Club in Haworth, N.J. Alex, from Wayne, N.J., shot an even-under par 71, and tied Kelly Shon of Port Washington, N.Y., for first place in the qualifier.

Alex's hometown newspaper, northjersey.com, chronicled her trip around the Haworth course in this article. The U.S. Amateur is slated for August 9-15 at Charlotte Country Club in North Carolina.

Anna Leigh Keith attempted to qualify for the U.S. Amateur on Tuesday at the Wanderer's Club in Wellington, Fla, but missed the cut by one stroke. Keith shot a 73.

Alex finishes second at Women's Eastern Amateur

By A. Boggs

Vanderbilt rising junior Marina Alex finished the Women's Eastern Amateur in second place with a final round total of 216 (71-75-70), finishing four strokes behind Brittany Altomare, who went wire-to-wire for the victory.

Alex fired a 70 in her final round on Thursday at the Shackamaxon Golf & Country Club in Scotch Plains, N.J., which tied for the low round of the day with Altomare, who also fired a third-round 70.

Here's a blog from NorthJersey.com's Andy Vasquez describing Marina's push for the championship:

Wayne’s Marina Alex put plenty of pressure on Brittany Altomare. But Altomare’s putter never faltered.

Altomare used a final round, 2-under 70 to finish at 4-under par for the tournament and hold off Alex, who finished four shots back at even par 216 for the 54-hole tournament.

Alex, a rising junior at Vanderbilt, didn’t make it easy on Altomare, who will be a sophomore at Virginia next season. With Altomare leading by three shots on the 16th hole, Alex chipped in from about 25 feet for birdie. But Altomare calmly answered with a 10 foot birdie putt of her own. Altomare then saved par from 10 feet on the 16th hole and made a 12-footer for birdie on 17, to seal the tournament.

Alex struck the ball well all day, but seemingly couldn’t get a putt to drop until it was too late. She made a 30 footer to save par on the 18th hole, and stay at par for the tournament.

For the complete scoreboard from the tournament, click here.

Alex stays in second after two rounds of Women's Eastern

By A. Boggs

Marina Alex remains in second place after two rounds of the Women's Eastern Amateur after posting a three-over par, 75, on Wednesday at the Shackamaxon Golf & Country Club in Scotch Plains, N.J. Alex trails Brittany Altomare, a University of Virginia golfer, by four strokes heading into the final round Thursday.

Alex sits at two-over par for the tournament (71-75=146), and is attempting to become the first New Jersey golfer to win the Women's Eastern since 1979.

To read more about Alex's second round, check out Stephen Hennessey's recap at NorthJersey.com here.

Alex in second at Eastern Women's Golf Association Amateur

By A. Boggs

Vanderbilt rising junior Marina Alex is currently in second place after the first round of the 99th Women’s Eastern Golf Association Amateur in Scotch Plains, N.J., after firing a one-under par, 71, on Tuesday at the Shackamaxon Golf & Country Club.

Alex is one stroke back of the leader, Brittany Altomare of the University of Virginia, who shot a 70.

Fifty-seven golfers are in the three-day, 54-hole tournament that is being held in New Jersey for the first time since 1979.

To read more about Alex and the tournament, click here to read Greg Mattura's first day recap at NorthJersey.com.

Commodores making the turn

By A. Boggs

Since the last blog entry, we had another storm delay for about 45 minutes, and have been back on the course for about 20 minutes or so.  There is a line of storms that have been in the area for most of the afternoon, and there may be more stoppages ahead.  As you can see from the picture, even the turtles are trying to avoid the water.

I talked with assistant coach Nicki Cutler during the latest stoppage about what the NCAA will do today and whether we will get all 72 holes in for the tournament.  She informed me that they have built in Saturday as a make up day if they need one, but they will try and do what they can to fit everything in by Friday.

I wasn't a meteorology major, but the weather looks as if it will be okay for the rest of the week once this latest storm moves through.

Marina Alex and Lauren Stratton birdied their ninth hole, the 18th, and two Commodores, Megan Grehan and Anna Leigh Keith, are near or at the turn.  At the moment, Vanderbilt is six-over par for their round, with the easiest nine holes still to play.  VU has been very unlucky with the weather - yesterday morning, conditions were rainy and windy to start (when VU played), while the afternoon was beautiful, and today, the morning was perfect with the afternoon kicking up storms and windy conditions.

Check back later for more when it becomes available.

Alex wins Golfweek Player of the Week

By A. Boggs

2010 SEC individual champion Marina Alex was named the Golfweek Women's Collegiate Golfer of the Week for her play this weekend in Tuscaloosa.

Click here to read more from Golfweek.

Flip It: Marina Alex's winning putt

By A. Boggs

Here's a video of Marina's winning putt on the second playoff hole to capture the 2010 SEC Women's individual golf championship. I've also included a video of Marina in the van on the happy ride home.

Marina Alex first-round results at U.S. Open

By A. Boggs - Vanderbilt rising sophomore fired an 82 at the U.S. Women’s Open at the Saucon Valley Golf Course in Bethlehem, Pa., which places her in a tie for 143^rd place after day one.

Alex posted one birdie, five pars, and 12 bogeys in her inaugural round at the Open. Alex, who teed off on the first hole in the afternoon, fired a 43 on the front nine and a 39 on the back.

Alex returns to the course on Friday for her second round, which begins at 9:01 a.m. ET.

Click here for complete results of the first round.

Alex at the U.S. Open

By A. Boggs - Marina Alex's first round at the U.S. Women's Open is now underway, and you can follow her score here.

Many of you have seen her blog on vucommodores.com (click here if you haven't), but Brendan Prunty of the New Jersey Star-Ledger came to Pennsylvania and wrote a great article about Marina's experiences so far at the Open.

You can check out Prunty's story here.

Good this weekend Marina!

Alex named to NGCA All-Region Team

By. A. Boggs - After a stellar finish to the NCAA Championships last week, Vanderbilt freshman Marina Alex was named to the National Golf Coach Association's All-East Region team for her accomplishments this postseason. Alex qualified for the national championship at the East Regional in Gainesville, Fla.

The Wayne, N.J., native finished in a tie for 37th at the NCAA Championships last week at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mill, Md., and stormed up the leaderboard 37 places after her final-round 69 last Friday. Alex fired a 143 (74-69) in her last two rounds of the tournament, which tied her for the best final 36 holes of the championship.