US COLLEGE REPORT

Andrea Downer in action for Murray State University, West Kentucky and (above) Channel Islander Olivia Higgins (Charleston Southern).

STOP PRESS: HARRIET OWERS-BRADLEY (Yale University) scored her first individual US college circuit win in the Lehigh University Invitational after a play-off.

Olivia Higgins loses Charleston lead, but comes second

and Andrea Downer finishes joint fourth in Tennessee

Channel Islander Olivia Higgins, a student at Charleston Southern University, and another senior-year student, Andrea Downer (Murray State University, Kentucky) from Bramley, Surrey, achieved the highest finishes by a female British/Irish students on the US college golf circuit over the past two weeks when some of us have been on holiday.

Olivia was the first-round leader with a one-under-par 70 in the CSU Wendy's Invitational turnament at Coosaw Creek Country Club, Charleston, South Carolina but she could not keep up that level of performance in the second round.

Olivia, who will be 22 on December 31, subsided to a 75 over the par-71, 6068yd course for a total of 145. She finished runner-up in a field of 81 players, beaten by five strokes by Spaniard Aruka Fellgueroso (Coastal Carolina) who scored 74 and 66 for two-under-par 140.
Coastal Carolina (586) won the team event by 19 shots from College of Charleston with Charleston Southern (641) seventh of 15 teams.

Andrea Downer finished joint fourth in a field of 90 at the APSU Intercollegiate, played at Clarksville, Tennessee over a 5,960yd course with a par of 72.

Andrea scored 75 and 79 for 154, which suggests the weather was a bit rough. She finished only four shots behind the winner, Megan Bradford (Tennessee Tech) with 78 and 72 for 150.

GB&I international Jodi Ewart (New Mexico University) from Catterick took too long to get into her stride in finishing joint 12th in a field of 90 playeres at the NCAA Fall Preview tournament over a 6,325yd par 72 Dye Course at Landfall Country Club, Wilmington in North Carolina.

Jodi saddled herself with a three-over-par 75 on the first day and in this kind of company, that's a lot of of ground to make up.

Give the Yorkshire lass her due, she scored 73 and 72 over the next two rounds and, had there been a fourth round, she could probably have broken 70!

A total of 220 left her 10 shots behind the winner, Cydney Clanton (Auburn) with three 70s for six-under-par 210 and an impressive five-stroke victory from Brittany Altomore (Virginia) (74-71-70).

Sweden's Camilla Lennarth (Alabama) and Tiger Woods' niece, Cheyenne Woods (Wake Forest), tied for third place on level par 216.

Former British and European women's champion Carlota Ciganda (Arizona State) from Spain opened with a four-under-par 68 - the joint best round of the tournament - but slid back with subsequent rounds of 74 and 76 for 218 and a share of seventh place.

Ellie Givens from Darlington - a student at Denver University - finished a disappointing and disappointed joint 38th in the field of 90 with scores of 73, 76 and 78 for 227.

Duke University (881) won by the narrowest of margins - just one shot - in the team event with Auburn and UCLA joint runners-up on 882 and Arizona State fourth on 889. Denver (889) came eighth of 18th and New Mexico (913) tied for 14th place.

Jacqueline Sneddon (Grand Canyon University) from Meigle had a pair of 80s in finishing joint 16th on the 160 mark in a field of 45 at the Sonoma State Women's Invitational at Santa Rosa Golf & Country Club, Santa Rosa in California.

Over a par-72 course of 5,800yd, the scoring wasn't all that great, which is sometimes a sign that the conditions were tough for everybody.

Claire Rachor (Western Washington) won with 79 and 70 for 149, a shot ahead of team-mate Katie Sharpe (77-73).

Ellie Robinson (Georgia State) tied for 18th place in a field of 90 for the Lady Pirate Invitational over a par-71, 5,939yd course at Greenville Country Club, Greenville in North Carolina.

Ellie, a 19-year-old freshman who hails from Middlesbrough, struggled on the first day with an opening 81 but showed her true colours with a 72 and 71 in the alter rounds of a total of 224.

Laura Holmes (Old Dominion) from Co Mayo scored 82, 78 and 79 for 239 and a share of 66th place.

Irish compatriot and Old Dominion team-mate Emma Gilmore was farther down the field with scores of 81, 81 and 92 for 254 and 79th place.

A third Irish player, Sinead O'Sullivan (East Tennessee State), had to retire with the onset of flu after scoring 81 and 72 in the first two rounds.

Despite that East Tennessee State managed to finish third in the team event behind Georgia State -Ellie Robinson's team - and East Carolina. Old Dominion were last of 15 teams.

Individual winner was Tara McFadden (Elon University) who is probably of Irish extraction but is American born. She had a great second round of 66 between scores of 73 and 72 to win with a 54-hole total of 211, two shots ahead of Abby Boolis (East Carolina) (70-71-72).