Charleston Southern's Odette Font Garcia Wins 2024 Women's Golf Championship Medalist Honors
FRIPP ISLAND, S.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – Charleston Southern’s
Odette Font Garcia carded a 3-under 69 on Tuesday to pull away from 36-hole co-leader
Preaw Nontarux of USC Upstate and capture Medalist honors at the Big South Women’s Golf Championship with an even-par 216 (73-74-69) in the 54-hole stroke play event, which was contested at Ocean Creek Golf Course (par 72, 6,004 yards) on Fripp Island, S.C. Font Garcia, who entered the final round tied with Nontarux at 147 (+3), becomes the first CSU golfer since
Olivia Jordan-Higgins in 2010 to win the individual conference championship.
Font Garcia won her second event this season after posting three birdies on the front nine and two on the back, and held a three-stroke advantage for five consecutive holes before winning by two shots. She has secured automatic entry into the the NCAA Regionals with her victory.
Font Garcia and UNC Asheville’s
Madyson Gold tied for the lowest round of the tournament on Tuesday at 69 (-3), and Gold’s effort vaulted her nine spots into solo fourth at 221 (73-79-69). Nontarux finished as the runner-up at 218 (76-71-71), and High Point’s
Anna Howerton clinched solo third-place at 219 following her final round 70. Longwood's
Emma Landis, USC Upstate’s
Suwarin Yord-in and High Point’s
Julia McLaughlin rounded out the top five on the individual leaderboard tied for fifth-place at 7-over 223. All seven players were named to the Big South All-Championship Team.
In the team standings,
Charleston Southern carded a 298 on Tuesday to finish with a team-aggregate 895 for its wire-to-wire lead in the stroke play portion, and will be the top seed in Wednesday’s Match Play Semifinal round. The Buccaneers finished four strokes ahead of
USC Upstate (899).
High Point dropped from a tie for second to third with a 901, while
Longwood clinched the fourth and final Match Play berth with its fourth-place standing at 908. It will be the Lancers’ first-ever appearance in the Big South Match Play round.
Wednesday’s Match Play Championship Semifinal round will feature Charleston Southern against Longwood starting on hole one, and USC Upstate vs. High Point beginning on hole 10. The winners of each match will play in the championship final Tuesday afternoon, with the champion receiving the Big South’s automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals. The Match Play round can be followed on GolfStat’s
Live Scoring platform.