TCU's Emmy Martin wins Harder Hall by five-strokes

SEBRING, FL (January 7, 2017) -- Despite heavy rain late in the final round TCU junior Emmy Martin was able to finish off a wire-to-wire victory at the Harder Hall Invitational. Martin closed with a strong 1-under 35 back nine to finish 2-under and comfortably ahead of runner-up Annabell Fuller after four days of play at Harder Hall Golf Club. Martin, the 2016 Harder Hall runner-up, struggled heading out on Saturday with a 3-over 38 but recovered nicely to close with a two birdie, one bogey back nine. The back nine birdies for Martin came on Nos. 13 and 16. For the week Martin combined rounds of 72-71-69-74. "I am so very proud and happy for Emmy," TCU women's golf head coach Angie Ravaioli-Larkin told TCU Athletics. "She has worked extremely hard and overcome much adversity that this crazy game of golf throws at you. It is such a joy to see her become so mentally tough. Her focus and determination are off the charts." With a current scoring average of 72.9 Martin is on pace to set a new program mark and she also closed her fall season with two consecutive top-10 finishes. Annabell Fuller of England finished second with a 3-over tally. Her best round came during Thursday's second round when she shot a 1-under 71. Mid-amateur and former Florida State Golf Association Player of the Year Tara Joy-Connelly ended up third at 4-over, second round co-leader Michaela Williams (Tennessee) was fourth at 7-over while first round co-leader Latanna Stone, Amanda Doherty and Ariadna Fonseca (Kansas) shared fifth at 8-over. Ohio State senior and defending champion Jessica Porvasnik faded Saturday with an 8-over 80 that left her in eighth place. -TCU Athletics contributed to this story