ALABAMA STILL LEAD AFTER BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE FOR TWO CURTIS CUPPERS

FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA WOMEN'S GOLF WEBSITE
With a few additional words by Colin Farquhason
FRANKLIN, Tennessee - The second-ranked Alabama women's golf team, spearheaded by two of next month's Curtis Cup match players: Brooke Pancake (United States) and Stephanie Meadow (GB and I), struggled on the closing holes of the third round Thursday at the NCAA Women's Championships and finished with an 18-over-par round of 306 on the par-72, 6,264yd North Course at the Vanderbilt Legends Club.
The Crimson Tide (+13, 877) still lead with one round to go but the lead is now only two shots ahead of Southern California (879), who shot 6-over 294 on Thursday, with Purdue, Virginia and South Carolina tied for third at 19-over 883. Louisiana State is sixth at 20-over 884 while North Carolina (885), Arizona State (887), UCLA (888) and Oklahoma (888) round out the top 10.
The back nine, particularly the final four holes, proved to be the biggest obstacle for the Crimson Tide in round three.
Alabama's top four players shot 10-over on the final four holes and saw a 15-shot lead, with the Tide's No. 5 player in the fairway on the 17th, dissipate to two shots as the final putt dropped on 18.
Alabama head coach Mic Potter addressed the team following the round and reinforced that a tremendous opportunity remains in front of the Crimson Tide with the lead heading into Friday's final round.
"The thing we need to do is stay positive, work on whatever went wrong, and see if we can get better by tomorrow," Potter said. "Then come out and play a little more loose, a little more confident."
Senior Brooke Pancake, who held the 36-hole individual lead but a three-over 75 for three-under 213 has dropped her to third place, a shot behind joint leaders Chirapat-Jao Javanil (Oklahoma) and and Italy's Giulia Molinaro (Arizona State), was working on a 1-under-par round Thursday through 14 holes before back-to-back double bogeys on the 14th and 15th marred an otherwise solid 16 holes to finish at 3-over 75.
"I made two pretty careless mistakes that definitely killed me," Pancake said. "I can't ponder on those and let it change my mind set for tomorrow. I've had two good rounds that put me in the position I'm in, and hopefully I can get another good one in tomorrow and finish well."
Jennifer Kirby is now ahead of Stephanie Meadow (pictured above) as the second best Alabama team player. She shot 2-over 74 in the third round to move into a tie for 11th at 3-over 219. The junior was level par going into the 16th where she hit it into the water and made double bogey. Kirby then made bogey the 17th, but finished strong with a birdie on the 18th.
Stephanie Meadow was Alabama's third scorer at 6-over 78 and is tied for 17th at 4-over 220 over 54 holes.
Stephanie's rounds have gone 69-73-78 so the Jordanstown, Northern Ireland player, who has lived in the States for several years with her family, needs to reverse the trend and get down at least to the low 70s for Alabama to have a chance.
Meadow bogeyed the first, seventh, ninth, 11th, 13th, 15th and 17th with only one birdie, at the short 12th, in halves of 39.
If the pressure is only Alabama's top three players, it is also on their No 4 and 5 players. One of them needs to dig deep for a good counting score in the final round.
 Courtney McKim was the fourth counting Crimson Tide score on Thursday with a 79. Hannah Collier was the discarded Alabama score at 80.
"I think down the line, 1 through 5, we were holding on a little too tight all day," Potter said. "It is human nature to try to protect a lead. I don't know why it is that way because it almost always jumps up and bites you."
Alabama will play in the lead group in Friday's final round with Southern California and Purdue. The Tide will tee off at 12:56 p.m. at the Vanderbilt Legends Club.
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SPOTLIGHT ON THE US CURTIS CUP TEAM MEMBERS IN THE FIELD

Lindy Duncan (Duke) is  lying  second best (behind Brooke Pancake) of the seven US Curtis Cup team members in the field of 126.
Lindy is  T17 on 220 with scores of 70-75-75 and Lisa 76-72-74.
Lisa McCloskey (Southern California) comes next on 222 (76-72-74)
Emily Tubert (Arkansas) is T40 on 224 (73-74-77)
Austin Ernst (Louisiana State) is T64 on 227 (78-75-74).
Erica Popson (Tennessee) is T77 on 229 (77-76-76)
Tiffany Lua (UCLA) is T82 on 230 (75-73-82).
Amy Anderson (North Dakota State) is the only member of the US Curtis Cup team who is not competing in the NCAA Women's Championship

HOW THE BRITS (apart from Stephanie Meadow) ARE FARING

Sally Watson (Stanford) from Edinburgh, a Curtis Cup player in 2008 and 2010 but overlooked this time round, is leading England's Hayley Davis (Baylor) and Hally Leadbetter (Arkansas).
Sally is T71 in the field of 126 with ever-improving scores of 78-76-74 for 228.
Sally started the third round at the 10th and was two under par with birdies at the 13th and short 16th and then she tripped up over the closing holes (as many players did!)
The Scot, now a member of Elie and Earlsferry Ladies GC in Fife, had a double bogey 6 at the 17th and a double bogey 7 at the long 18th for a nine-hole score of 83.
Over her inward nine (outward on the card), Wasonbirdied the first, long seventh and long ninth but bogeyed the short third, short fifth and eighth for par 36. In all Sally had five birdies, two double bogeys and three bogeys.
Hayley Davis from Dorset is T92 on 231 with scores of 74-78-79.
She ran up a double bogey 5 at the short 16th and had only one birdie all day, at the long 18th. She had six bogeys in halves of 38-40.
Top coach David Leadbetter's daugher Hally, a student at Arkansas University, is T119 on 238 with scores of 79-80-79.

LEADING TEAM TOTALS WITH ONE ROUND TO GO

877 Alabama. 879 Southern California. 883 Purdue, South Carolina, Virginia. 884 Louisiana State. 885 North Carolina. 887 Arizona State. 888 UCLA, Oklahoma. 892 Duke, Florida. 898 North Carolina State.
Selected other total
903 Baylor (T18 of 34 competing teams).

LEADING INDIVIDUAL TOTALS WITH ONE ROUND TO GO
Par 216 (3x72)
212 Chirapat-Jao Javanil (Oklahoma) 69 73 70, Giulia Molinaro (Arizona State) 69 71 72.
213 Brooke Pancake (Alabama) 68 70 75, Tessa Teachman (Louisiana State) 69 74 70.

SELECTED SCORES
220 Lindy Duncan (Duke) 70 75 75, Stephanie Meadow (Alabama) 69 73 78  (T17)
222 Lisa McCloskey (Southern California) 76 72 74.
224 Emily Tubert (Arkansas) 73 74 77 (T40)
227 Austin Ernst (LSU) 78 75 74 (T64)
228 Sally Watson (Stanford) 78 76 74 (T71)
229 Erica Popson (Tennessee) 77 76 76 (T77)
230 Tiffany Lua (UCLA) 75 73 82 (T82)
231 Hayley Davis (Baylor) 74 78 79 (T92)
238 Hally Leadbetter (Arkansas) 79 80 79 (T119).