Magnificent Meghan! Final-round 65 sees her make up six shots to win Conference Championship

                                Meghan MacLaren (centre) in the prizewinning line-up
  FROM FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY WEBSITE 
Fort Myers, Florida – Third-year student Meghan MacLaren had a round for the ages, shooting a seven-under 65 in the final round, making up a six-shot leeway, to claim the Conference USA Individual Tournament title and help lead the FIU women's golf team to a second-place finish at this year's C-USA Women's Golf Championship.
Entering the final day of the three-day event, FIU trailed Middle Tennessee by eight strokes. The Panthers pulled within one stroke of the Blue Raiders heading into the turn. However, Middle Tennessee was able to maintain its lead the remainder of the day to claim the conference title. The Blue Raiders finished the tournament with a 7-under, 857.
The Panthers finished the day with a 1-over, 289, and an overall 1-over, 865. The 54-hole total of 865 was the second-best score in FIU history and the team's best output in conference tournament history. The team's day-two score of 281 (-7) tied the C-USA record for low score in a round.
MacLaren, who had five birdies and an eagle on the day, shot the second-lowest round in FIU history (65) and set the school record for a 54-hole total of 206  in achieving her seventh win on the US college circuit - three in her freshman year and four in this her third year at Florida International University.
The Wellingborough, Cambridge, England, product rewrote the C-USA Tournament record books with her day-three score and tournament total. MacLaren, a C-USA All-Tournament Team selection, set career-best for 54-hole low score (206).
The British women's amateur stroke-play champion scored 72, 69 and 65 for 10-under-par 206.
She won by one shot from the long-time leader Samantha Gotcher (Middle Tennessee) (68-67-72 for 207).
In her amazing, bogey-free final round, MacLaren had an eagle 3 at the fifth and birdies at the seventh, eighth and ninth to be out in five-under 31.
She gained two more birdies, at the 10th and 15th to come home in 34.
Gotcher, leader by six after 36 holes, bogeyed the first and double-bogeyed the third in her final round but she finished strongly with birdies at the 13th, 17th and 18th to put the pressure back on to the English player. Said Meghan in an E-mail home after her triumph:
"I'd been playing well all week and was a little disappointed because I'd  got into position more than once to turn solid scores into good ones,  and they'd just slipped away a little bit. With the way I was hitting  the ball and the set-up and condition of the  course, I definitely felt like I could shoot something low. 
"But  Samantha must have played well to take that six-shot lead into the last  day, and I knew whatever I did she would have to come back to me a  little for me to have a chance. She did exactly that in  the first few holes and I just made sure I kept myself there because we  had some bad weather at the beginning.
"I hit two great shots to set  up the eagle on 5, which I knew put me right in with a chance and maybe  added some pressure on to her.. but the other girl I was playing with  started well too so I knew it was anyone's for the taking. 
"I'd felt  confident with  my putting from 15-20ft all week, and it finally paid off when I made three  in a row at the seventh, eighth and ninth.
"After I made the one at the eighth,  I had the feeling the  tournament was mine to win. I chipped in for birdie on 10 to get to six under par  for the day and it just felt like one of those  days where everything was going to go right... but I actually missed  the shortest chance I had on 11 for birdie, and things slowed down a  bit. "I just made regulation pars and then hit two great shots to give  myself a 12 foot eagle putt on 15, which I missed,  but made birdie to get to -7. 
"I managed to make an up and down on 16  for par which I would probably only make once out of 20 times, which was a  better feeling than any of the birdies! 
"I didn't know how important it  would be because Samantha finished with two  birdies in a row.  The 18th  hadn't been my favourite hole and my first putt  just refused to stop, so I was left with a sidehill six-footer for par.
" I  knew it was to win the tournament,  so seeing it sneak in the right side was one of the  happiest moments I've ever had on the course!
"When I was trying to figure out how to go about the last round.. I  changed my strategy a little. I knew I hadn't made as many birdies at the par 5s  as I should have, so I decided that one of them, the ninth, I would play as a three-shotter no matter what, and the others  I was going to try and step on my driver and give myself a chance of  getting there in two shots.
"I did that,  made birdie on the 'three-shotter', went for two of them and had two  eagle putts, and laid up on the other one. Made my  game plan more specific, stuck to it, and it  worked!"

Channel Islander Aimee Ponte (Texas-San Antonio) from Guernsey finished a creditable sixth in a field of 55 players. She shot 72-71-71 for two-under-par 215.
Team-mate Becky McGeehan from Germany finished T21 on 223 with Rachael Walker (Old Dominion), a second-year student from Dumfries. Becky scored 76, 77 and 70, Rachael 76, 75 and 72.
Brogan Townend, another Texas-San Antonio player, a third-year student from Blackburn finishe dT28 on 225 (71-77-77).
Holly Robinson (Alabama-Birmingham) from Sligo, Northern Ireland finished 39th on 228 (82-76-71) and Charlotte Hindmoor (Old Dominion), a junior from Darlington,  had scores of 76, 76 and 75 for 230 and a T40 finish.