AU ROUNDUP: Schepperle wins another amateur tourney

Special to the News

Published: January 11, 2009

SEBRING, Fla. — Auburn’s Candace Schepperle picked up the second amateur tournament victory of the year Saturday as she posted a final-round 7-under-par 65 to finish the 54th Harder Hall Invitational at 13-under-par 275, winning the tournament by seven strokes.

The win comes just a week after Schepperle won the Dixie Amateur on Jan. 4. The junior from Birmingham won the Dixie Amateur with a 14-under-par 274.

Also competing in the tournament was Auburn sophomore Cydney Clanton. The Concord, N.C., native carded a final-round 69 to finish the tournament in a tie for 12th with a 7-over-par 295.

Schepperle was in the hunt from the start, sitting one stroke off the lead after posting a first-round 71. She followed up with a 3-under 69 in the second round, holding on to second place and a one-stroke deficit. In the third round, Schepperle took her first lead after coming in with a 2-under-par 70, picking up a two-stroke lead.

She sealed the tournament victory in the final round with a course-record 65, extending her lead to seven strokes over Amelia Lewis, her nearest competitor.

Clanton started off rough in the tournament, but rebounded in the second and final rounds to finish in the top 15. She was tied for 23rd after her first-round 78, but a 72 in the second round kept her in the hunt. She stumbled again with a 4-over 76 in the third round but shot her best round, a 3-under-par 69, in the final round to finish in a tie for 12th with Daniela Lendl, daughter of former tennis great Ivan Lendl.

The 10th-ranked Tigers return to action Feb. 16-17 as the team travels to River Wilderness Country Club in Parrish, Fla., for the Central District Invitational.