Sarah Paulson Oct. 3, 2008

Paulson leads conference tournament after three rounds

DES MOINES—Scores were soaring but Central College freshman Sarah Paulson (Ottumwa) holds a 5-shot lead heading into the final round of the Iowa Conference women’s golf tourney Saturday. Paulson shot 81 at the par-72 Blank Golf Course in Des Moines and is at 76-71-81—228 after 54 holes. Defending champion Steph Burns of Wartburg was the only player in the field to crack 80, firing a 77 and pulling within 5 shots at 75-81-77—233.  

Heavily favored Wartburg has pulled away from the pack and leads with 315-319-327—96. Central is battling Luther College for second place. The Dutch are at 325-323-359—1007 with Luther at 333-331-345—1009.

Central’s Eva Downes (junior, Woodstock, Ill., Marion Catholic Central HS) is in fourth place at 79-79-86—244. Abby Lukensmeyer (freshman, Hampton, Hampton-Dumont HS) is in 17th at 86-80-94—260, Nicole Wenstrand (sophomore, Essex) is 23rd at 84-96-98—278 and Allison Crooks (sophomore, Moline, Ill.) is tied for 24th at 90-93-98—281. There are 44 players in the field.

“Mentally, we just didn’t have it today,” coach Jodee Schaben said. “Our execution was there, but we were either picking the wrong club or just not making smart decisions.  It’s a very challenging course but we didn’t handle it very well.

“The good news is we’re still in second place, we worked on the range a lot tonight and we will be more focused tomorrow. We have a chance to rebound.”

Central has had six individual league medalists since the first conference meet was staged in 1982, but last had a champion in 1990 when Shari King won a playoff for the title.