CCU women’s golf team finishes season, though one player may not be done

The Coastal Carolina women’s golf team completed its 2016-17 season by finishing ninth in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on Wednesday, though Malene Krolboll Hansen may have more rounds to play this season.

The junior from Denmark finished fourth individually at the Robert Trent Jones at the Shoals course in Muscle Shoals, Ala., at even-par 216 with rounds of 73, 72 and 71, likely strengthening her chances to be selected to participate in an NCAA regional as an individual.

Hansen finished six strokes behind winner Sasikarn Somboonsup of Texas State and just two strokes behind runner-up Fatima Cano of Troy.

The four women’s regionals will be held May 8-10 and the closest to the CCU campus is in Athens, Ga. Chanticleers coach Katie Quinney expects Hansen to be selected, and an announcement is expected Sunday. The women’s NCAA Championship is May 19-24 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.

Troy won the team conference title by five strokes over Georgia State at 14-over 291 to earn a spot in a regional.

CCU entered the conference championship as the top seed with a conference-best Golfstat.com national team ranking of 71st but finished ahead of just Louisiana Monroe in the 10-team tournament with a 55-over 919.

The Coastal Carolina women had their highlights this season, winning the Edwin Watts Kiawah Island Classic in late February and finishing second to Campbell in the Palmetto Intercollegiate at Kiawah Island’s Turtle Point course in October. But they also failed to finish better than eighth in their other seven events.

Hansen entered the conference tournament ranked 51st in the country by Golfstat with a conference-best 72.46 scoring average over eight tournaments.

She has four top-four finishes this season, including a win at the Golfweek Conference Challenge at Red Sky Golf Club in Colorado with a 9-under 207 total, runner-up at the Palmetto Intercollegiate and third at the Edwin Watts event. She finished 48th in the NCAA Raleigh Regional as a freshman in 2015 when the Chants qualified as a team.

Sophomore Marie Lunackova of the Czech Republic, a Second Team All-Sun Belt selection, recorded her third top-20 of the season Wednesday with a tie for 19th at 8-over 224. Also for the Chants, junior Damla Bilgic of Turkey tied for 42nd at 23-over 239, freshman Victoria Parker of New York tied for 44th at 240 and freshman Stephanie Henning of Sweden finished 50th at 248.

This story was originally published April 19, 2017 at 8:10 PM with the headline "CCU women’s golf team finishes season, though one player may not be done."