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.

Former women's golf great Chris Brady competes on Big Break Sandals

By A. Boggs

Former women's golf standout Chris Brady is competing on the Golf Channel's Big Break reality series this year and is still alive after three rounds of cuts. Brady, who earned a conditional LPGA card in 2008, is competing at the Sandals Emerald Bay, Great Exuma, Bahamas, with 10 other golfers for two professional tour exemptions.

If you're not familiar with the Big Break reality show, here's a quick synopsis from the Golf Channel's website.

The hit reality show is back and this season, eleven female golfers compete against each other for the chance at two professional Tour tournament exemptions. Despite the tropical setting, it won’t be all fun and games in paradise. The familiar skills-based challenges return to test the ladies’ abilities and the drama is heightened when the women must all live together in the same island villa.

A new episode of the show airs tonight at 8 p.m. CT on the Golf Channel.

For more information on the series and when you can catch Chris in action, click here.

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.

Marina Alex named NGCA First Team All-American

By A. Boggs

At National Golf Coaches Association banquet, where Marina Alex was named a first team All-American.

Congrats to Marina, who had the best season stroke average in the history of Commodore women's golf. She joins Jacqui Concolino and May Wood as the only first teamers to ever don the black and gold.

Commodores post 18-over par, currently in seventh

By A. Boggs

Vanderbilt is in the clubhouse with an 18-over par, 1170 (296-292-291-291) and are currently in seventh position as of 5:48 EST. UCLA is one stroke in front of the Commodores, but the Bruins still have a few holes left to play.

Brooke Goodwin led VU with a one-under par, 71, in her final round as a collegian. The senior from Fuquay-Varina, N.C., was tied for 13th in the last individual update that was available on Golfstat.com, which has been acting up all day and been very inconsistent.

Picture above is of Brooke Goodwin signing her last collegiate scorecard.

Stay tuned for more information on vucommodores.com as they become available.

Commodores are off...

By A. Boggs

Vanderbilt is off and running in the final round of the NCAA Championship in Wilmington.

Anna Leigh Keith was the first one to tee off for VU, and her picture is above.

VU is in sixth place heading into today, with the all-time best finish at a national championship within reach. The Commodores finished fifth in the 2004 championship.

We'll have updates throughout the day here at the blog. You can also follow live scoring. Stay tuned.

Video: Greg Allen talks about the 'Dores third round and changing a flat tire

By A. Boggs

Oh, the adventures of the road. Just when you thought you would have a nice relaxing evening after a great Italian meal, you get back to the hotel to find the back left tire of your rental car completely flat. I didn't flip the Commodore pit crew, although I thought long and hard about it, but decided to ask the coach about the incident afterwards, along with his thoughts on Vanderbilt's third round in Wilmington.

We're all pretty pooped after a long day at the course. We're back at it again tomorrow for the final round to try and get some hardware and to set a record. VU's best finish in the NCAA Championship was a fifth place finish at the 2004 championship, and the top four teams receive a trophy from the NCAA. It would be a great finish to a great year.

Until then, good night from Wilmington.

Video: Brooke Goodwin after round three at NCAA Championship

By A. Boggs

We caught Brooke Goodwin in the lobby of the hotel after her round for a quick interview. Check out the video below to see what she had to say.

Women's Golf ready for third round

By A. Boggs

Vanderbilt's women's golfers are putting the finishing touches on their warm up and getting ready to hit the the Landfall Dye Course for their third round of the NCAA Championship. Lauren Stratton is the first to tee off for VU at 2:40 EST.

The NCAA is currently streaming the tournament live with a video feed - tune in here to watch.

I'll leave all of you for now with a picture of the Atlantic Ocean from Wrightsville Beach. With the late tee time, a few of us headed over there for a shoeless walk on the beach. If you haven't been here, I highly recommend it!

Commodores in eighth after two rounds, will begin third round at 2:40 EST

By A. Boggs

The Commodores have assumed eighth place by themselves after the second round of the NCAA Championship in Wilmington was completed on Thursday morning. Florida State, who was tied with the 'Dores at 12-over par after play was suspended late on Wednesday night, added three more strokes to their total and ended round two at 15-over.

Vanderbilt's first golfer to tee off this afternoon, Lauren Stratton, will tee off this afternoon at 2:40 EST on hole number 10 with players from Virginia and Auburn playing alongside her. Anna Leigh Keith tees off at 2:51, Megan Grehan at 3:02, Brooke Goodwin at 3:13, and Marina Alex has the last tee time of the day at 3:24.

Live streaming of the tournament also begins at 1:30 EST, and you can view that here. It will be a late day for the Commodores, but it seems as if the team is in good spirits and ready to go low.

Stay tuned for more updates...

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.

Back to the action...

By A. Boggs

Storm delay is over and everyone is back in action at Landfall. Commodores are currently playing holes 3 through 7, which are 12 through 16 on the course since VU teed off on the back. Click here to follow live scoring.

Storm delay in Wilmington

By A. Boggs

We have all been shuffled off of the golf course due to impending storms in the area.

We're okay here though...there has been a residential home on each hole designated for a safe area, so that's where Anna Leigh Keith and the rest of the golfers who were putting on 12 green are hanging right now.

Kudos to the NCAA and the Landfall folks for making these arrangements.

Stay tuned to the blog for when we start playing again.

Commodores hit course for second round

By A. Boggs

After a stellar breakfast at the Cracker Barrell, Vanderbilt's womens golf team is on the course for their second round of the NCAA Championship at the Country Club of Landfall. VU has tee time ranging from 12:30 to 1:05 EST off the 10 tee today.

Stay tuned to the blog and vucommodores for breaking developments and live scoring updates.

Commodore golfers add pink to their color scheme this week

By A. Boggs

The Commodores have donned pink ribbons on their bags this week at the NCAA Championship in honor of LPGA golfer Erica Blasberg, who tragically passed away last week in Las Vegas.  Blasberg played for head coach Greg Allen for two years while Allen was the head coach at the University of Arizona.

Attached is a picture of Brooke Goodwin's bag with the ribbon and "Skip" printed on the ribbon.  Allen tells a story that on Blasberg's arrival to Arizona, a trainer asked her to skip around the track to get warmed up for a workout.  She didn't know how to skip, so the moniker was given to her by Allen and her teammates.

The Commodore family passes on their condolences to the Blasberg and University of Arizona women's golf family, who will celebrate her life Wednesday morning in California at a memorial service.

Video: Catching up with Greg Allen and Anna Leigh Keith

By A. Boggs

Vucommodores.com caught up with Vanderbilt head coach Greg Allen and top finisher Anna Leigh Keith after the first round of the NCAA Championship in Wilmington, N.C. on Tuesday afternoon. The Commodores shot eight-over par for their round on Tuesday as a team, and Keith fired a one-under par, 71, which tied for her lowest round of the season.

Greg Allen


Anna Leigh Keith

Commodores end first day at eight-over par

By A. Boggs

The Commodores ended the first day of play at the NCAA Championship with an eight-over par, 296, which is currently fifth among teams that have finished their rounds.

VU was led by freshman Anna Leigh Keith, who posted a one-under par, 71. The Moultrie, Ga., native finished with four birdies in her last five holes, and is currently in a tie for sixth in the individual rankings. Her 71 tied a season-best - her previous 71 came in the Bryan National Collegiate in Greensboro, N.C., on April 4, which was also her best finish of the season (T-10).

Megan Grehan ended her round with a two-over par, 74, Marina Alex with a three-over par, 75, Brooke Goodwin with a four-over par, 76, and Lauren Stratton finished with a six-over par, 78.

More to come later, including video interviews with head coach Greg Allen and top finisher Anna Leigh Keith, along with an official recap on vucommodores.com when everyone finishes their round on Tuesday.

Commodores have a great front nine

By A. Boggs

After a slow start, the Commodores have emerged as an early-morning leader at the NCAA Championships in Wilmington. Vanderbilt is in the lead at two-under par as the team's final player, Marina Alex, approaches the turn at the Country Club of Landfall.

After starting the tournament's first two holes at three-over par, the jitters quickly disappeared and Vanderbilt shot to the top of the leaderboard. Senior Brooke Goodwin chipped in from 75 yards out on number six, a par-five, 510-yard monster, for eagle, junior Megan Grehan had three birdies on the front nine, and Alex has two birdies so far through eight. I followed Marina for the first seven holes, and she capped her sixth and seventh holes with birdies after two clutch par saves at four and five.

Freshman Anna Leigh Keith is even through nine, and fellow freshman Lauren Stratton finished her front nine at four-over par.

Stay tuned to the blog for more updates as they happen here in Wilmington. Hopefully the good news continues and the rain stays away. Click to Follow Live Scoring