Anna Morgan had some ground to make up in the final round of the UNF Intercollegiate in Jacksonville, Florida.

Morgan, the Lady Paladin junior, started her final round in a tie for fifth place trailing the leader by 2-shots after finishing the first 36 holes at 1-under par.

“I thought I left a lot of shots out there and didn’t feel like I could make a putt,” said Morgan. “I texted with Natalie (Srinivasan, her former teammate) and she gave me some tips I used to get ready,” she said.

Using a shot-gun start for the final round, space on the practice tee was limited so Morgan changed her pre-round warm up and spent more time chipping and putting..

“There were so many girls on the practice tee I only got to hit three tee shots before I went to the first tee,” she said.

The short warm up session didn’t affect Morgan as she stripped her first tee shot to start the final round.

Morgan birdied her fifth hole and closed out her first nine with an eagle and a birdie.

She holed out from a bunker for the eagle.

“My second shot ended up in a bunker about 10 yards from the hole. Our assistant coach told me she thought I could make it and I hit a good bunker shot and it went in,” she said.

Morgan backed up the eagle with a birdie to finish the front nine at 4-under par.

Because of the shotgun format Morgan and the other leaders were not playing together.

“I didn’t ask where I stood until 17. My coach told me and said a couple of pars would be good, but I thought a couple of birdies would be better,” she recalled.

Morgan birdied the par-3 17th hole and had a good look at a second straight birdie from 18 feet on the final hole, but missed.

The Furman junior finished in a tie with Berta Sanchez Sabe from Jacksonville State for the top spot. Morgan’s final round 5-under par 67 tied for the lowest round in the tournament.

It was the second win this year for Morgan. She won the Lady Paladin last fall.

Morgan started the spring with a tie for fifth place at The Show in Las Vegas and held the first round lead over the best field in women’s college golf at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate at Hilton Head just a week ago.

While she finished in a tie for 13th, Morgan believed it was her fine play at Long Cove that set up the win in Jacksonville.

“I was really proud of the way I played and knew my game was turning in the right direction. Getting this win was great,” she said.

Morgan has two regular season tournaments left before playing in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and then begins post-season play at the Southern Conference championship in mid-April.

The Lady Paladins finished second in the tournament, six shots behind North Florida.

UNF Intercollegiate scores https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=player&tid=23227