Anna Morgan already had her second Lady Paladin Invitational title locked up coming into the final two holes of the 49th annual event at Furman.

While Morgan had her second individual win in hand, her team trailed Augusta by a shot most of the final round,

When Morgan got to her final two holes she asked Lady Paladin coach Jeff Hull how the team was doing,

“I like to know what is going on, My coach told me we were down, I would have to make a birdie on one of the final two holes<,” she said,

Morgan just missed a birdie when a tricky down hill 15 footer skid by the hole.

“After I missed he told me I needed to birdie the last hole, He said you can do it,” she said,

Morgan had been splitting fairways with her tee shot all day and did it again on 18, She followed the drive up with a great second shot that put her in birdie range,

After her three playing partners missed their chance at birdies, Morgan lined up the 15 footer for a share of the team title.

“At least I gave myself a chance. I knew exactly what I had to do, I had to make it, I didn’t worry about anything else and I was so excited to make the putt in front of everyone,” she said.

After getting a high-five from Hull, Morgan got drenched by her teammates with a traditional water bottle shower.

“I was more excited about the team win than I was about my win. This year was my best year, It was great to be out here with my team,”she said,

The Southern Conference Player of the Year opened the tournament with a solid 2-under par 70 and then put a 6-under par 66 on the board in the second round.

Her final round 5-under par 67 gave Morgan a 13-under par 203 total and a 5-shot win over Western Kentucky’s Calie Craig.

“The first day I couldn’t get things going the way I wanted, In my final two rounds I played solid golf and didn’t make many mistakes, I think I only had one bogey in the last two rounds,.It was pretty good golf. I’m oving it,” she said,

Morgan became the fifth golfer to win a pair of Lady Paladin Invitational titles, She won the title in 2021 and finished as the runner-up last year.

“I don’t know if anyone has won twice. I knew coming into this week I wanted to win twice especially after coming so close last year,” she said.

With an individual companionship and a tie for team honors Hull was happy with the two wins,

“This was one of the best weeks I have ever had as a coach, We got to not only celebrate our two great seniors, Caroline Crumrine and Anna Morgan, but introduce our new freshmen to the college golf world.  Our culture is awesome, and this win means a lot.  We had a great family dinner Friday night and got to witness greatness by the name of Anna Morgan,” said Hull.

When the Furman coach presented Morgan with her championship award he referred to her as being on the Lady Paladin’s Mount Rushmore.

If you are not familiar with the term, sports fans often try to decide the best four players in their sport. They want to identify the sports Washington Jefferson Lincoln and Roosevelt of their sport,

While Hull didn’t list the other three golfers he would have on his version of Mount Rushmore, most Furman people would believe Hull would like Morgan to be thought of in the same way as Beth Daniel, Betsy King and Dottie Pepper.

Joining Morgan on the winning Lady Paladin team were Audrey Ryu who earned a top-20 finish with her 13th place even par finish.,

Alise Knudson, Carolina Crumrine and Kelsi Mauzy rounded out the Lady Paladins co-championship team.

Scores from the Lady Paladin Invitational https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=player&tid=28249A