As the week has gone on, the Barton Community College women's golf team has improved each round of the NJCAA Women's Golf National Championship. Wednesday, the Lady Cougars improved their team score by seventeen strokes from Tuesday's round to post the ninth best third round score of 342. The improvement enabled Barton to move a slot up the leaderboard to 14th overall to the final round as the Lady Cougars will look to protect their two stroke lead over Snead. With the tee times set for the final day of competition, Barton will be paired with Snead along with Spartanburg Methodist whom the Lady Cougars trail by thirty strokes. The trio will have the final tee times beginning at 12:00 p.m. central time with tournament leader Peerada Piddon set to begin her championship quest thirty-six minutes later.
Leading the field by three headed into the day's play, by the time Piddon reached the course and the No. 10 tee box for the afternoon tee time, the margin into the clubhouse had grown to six. Piddon looked to be running away with the title with five straight pars on the first four holes, dropping her fourth birdie of the tournament on the par-five fifteenth before parring the remaining two in conquering the course's four hardest holes to make the turn at 1-under 34. A nemesis hole for her teammates but not affecting the Thailand sophomore through two rounds, the par-4 No. 1 hole reared its head to stick a double bogey on the card to quickly flip the card to the wrong side of par. Piddon bounced back parring the next before a bogey took her to 2-over on the round. Parring the next four holes, the fifth most difficult hole on the day slapped another double bogey on par-three eighth hole before parring the ninth to finish 5-over on the second nine to finish at 4-over 75 on the day.
The remaining four Lady Cougars each had sub-98 scores led by Mackenzie Fabrizius' 17-over 88. Carding a 41 on the first nine with just one double bogey to go along with four pars and four bogeys, Fabrizius countered a pair of bogeys following the turn to drop her second birdie of the championship on the par-four third. The round was headed south with consecutive triple bogeys but Fabrizius leveled the play with two bogeys and a par before a double ended the nine at 47 to match her second round score to move up two spots to 79th place.
Having struggled through the first two rounds, the three freshman Lady Cougars each recorded their tournament low rounds on Wednesday. Lucia Rodriguez Zapico began her round chalking up her first birdie of the tournament putting a red number on the par-four 10th. Back-to-back double bogeys followed by a bogey ensued before mixing in consecutive pars going on to play the final three holes 4-over to hit the turn with a 43. Rodriguez Zapico managed must one par on the final nine but more importantly limited the doubles to just two in carding a 46 for a third round total of a team second best 89 in jumping eleven spots to 99th.
Miranda Kern finished one stroke behind Rodriguez Zapico with a 19-over 90 moving up seven spots in remaining ahead on the leaderboard at 96th. Kern parred just three holes on the day but managed the course surrendering just four double bogeys putting together 46 and 44 nine-hole scores.
Kendra Jellison didn't quite have the big improvement her fellow freshman had on day three, but still posted her best round of the tournament closing the day with 50 and 48 scores for a 27-over 98 in moving up two spots to 110th.
Barton Individual Placing/Results (Round 3 – 18 Holes – Par 71):
1 - Peerada Piddon – 75
T79 - Mackenzie Fabrizius – 88
96 - Miranda Kern – 90
T99 - Lucia Rodriguez Zapico – 89
110 - Kendra Jellison – 98
Complete NJCAA Women's Golf Championship information found here