Oct. 15, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. - Freshman Marika Lendl (Bradenton, Fla.) was named the Conference USA Women's Golfer of the Week today for her record-setting performance at this past weekend's Mercedes-Benz Championship at the Fox Den Country Club in Knoxville, Tenn. It is her first career award and also UCF's first of the year.
Lendl set a school record by firing a 54-hole score of 214 (68-70-76) at the par-72 course. Her opening round 68 was just a stroke shy of the 10-year old school record of 67 as well. She paced the 96-golfer field for each of the first two days of the event before finishing sixth overall. Lendl has now shot par-or-better in five of her nine collegiate rounds.
Lendl's strong showing helped the Knights to a ninth-place finish in Knoxville, placing the team ahead of two top 25 teams in No. 9 Denver and No. 24 Texas A&M. UCF also topped fellow C-USA members SMU and Tulane at the event. The strong performance by the Knights moved the team up to No. 35 in this week's Golfweek collegiate rankings. In Knoxville, UCF shot each of its three lowest rounds of the year (300-293-300) to finish with a season-best score of 893. That final tally marks a 19-stroke improvement from UCF's 912 score at the same event a year ago.
UCF returns to action in two weeks when the team heads to Auburn, Ala. to participate in The Derby Invitational from October 24-26.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.