Elizabeth Bose won her first major amateur championship
(Virginia Tech photo)

Bose, who just finished her sophomore year at Virginia Tech University, began the day tied with Alexandra Farnsworth of Vanderbilt and Katharine Patrick of the University of Virginia.

Both Farnsworth (77) and Patrick (82) fell back, allowing Bose to grab and hold the lead, ultimately posting a 220 total to win by three shots over runner-up Tahnia Ravnjak, the assistant coach at Campbell University. Julia Ford of the University of Virginia tied for third with Farnsworth. Both Ravnjak and Ford closed with 72s.

Kelly Whaley of the University of North Carolina finished solo fifth, five shots back at 225.

Patrick tied for ninth at 229.

The Women's Southern Amateur was hosted by the Women's Eastern Golf Association. The WEGA is a regional golf association founded in 1906 to sponsor and support women's golf. Their territory includes Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Heading into the final round of the Women's Eastern Amateur hosted by Birdwood Golf Course a trio of players are tied for the lead with a 36-hole tally of 147.

The lead group includes Alexandra Farnsworth (74-73) of Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech's Elizabeth Bose (74-73) and Virginia's Katharine Patrick (76-71).

Trailing by one shot and in fourth place is Kelly Whaley (74-74--148) of North Carolina while three others are two shots further back in a tie for fifth place.

FIRST ROUND RECAP

Former Bucknell golfer Amy Loughney had an interesting round to say the least but with day one in the books she leads the Women's Eastern Amateur by a shot.

Playing at Birdwood Golf Course, Loughney opened with a front nine 40 and her round at that point could have gone one of two ways. Fortunately for Loughney she decided not to hang her head and on the back nine she turned things around with a homeward 33 that helped her tally a 73 and take a first round lead.

Behind Loughney on a crowded leaderboard are a quartet of players tied for second following 74's. The group includes Vanderbilt's Alexandra Farnsworth (37-37), Elizabeth Bose (37-37) of Virginia Tech, North Carolina's Kelly Whaley (37-37) and Tahnia Ravnjak (37-37) of Campbell.

Overall 13 players are within four shots of the leader with two rounds remaining.