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| Erica Popson |
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 | Class:
Junior
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| Hometown:
Davenport, Fla.
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| High School:
Ridge Community
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| Height:
5-8
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AWARDS & HONORS
All-America Honors
2011 NGCA First Team
2011 Golfweek First Team
All-SEC Honors
2011 All-SEC First Team
2010 All-SEC Freshman Team
4x Individual Champion
2010 Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship
2011 Bryan National Collegiate
2011 SEC Championship
2011 NCAA West Regional
SOPHOMORE SEASON
• Played in 10 of 11 tournament for the Big Orange, missing only the Fall Preview
• Led the team in stroke average (72.19) and strokes vs. par (0.29)
• Posted a career-best round of 66 in the first round of the SEC Championship
• Finished par or better in over half of the rounds she played (16 of 31), tying the UT single-season mark
• Led the nation in par five scoring (4.67)
• Finished at No. 3 in the Golfstat Cup individual rankings.
• Nabbed four-consecutive first-place finishes in the spring
• Medaled at the SEC Championship and NCAA West Regional
• Finished 14th at the NCAA Championships
• Earned first-team All-America honors from the NGCA and Golfweek
• Also earned first-team All-SEC laurels
FRESHMAN SEASON
• Rebounded from a wrist injury to have one of the fin- est postseason's in Lady Vol history, leading UT at all three championship-level tournaments
• Nabbed SEC All-Freshman honors, as well as All-East Re - gion laurels
• Nearly captured the individual SEC Championship, tying for first through 54 holes
• Finished with runner-up honors to Vanderbilt's Martina Alex on the second hole of a sudden death playoff
• Her three-day total of 71-67-68=208 (-5) at the North River Yacht Club in Tuscaloosa, Ala., set a new Lady Vol 54-hole record
• Snagged Lady Vol Athlete of the Week award on April 19 following the conference tourney
• Showed no letdown at her next competition, the NCAA East Regional, leading three Lady Vols in the top ten individually by tying for fourth
• Fired a 72-68-73=213 (-3) to help Tennessee finish second and return to the NCAA Championships
• At the national tournament in Wilmington, N.C., she tied for 18th with a score of 72-73-72-73=290 (+2)
• Averaged an incredible 71.10 in the final three tournaments of the season
• Carded par or below tallies in four of the first six rounds of her collegiate career
• Named to the SEC Freshman Academic Honor Roll and SEC All-Freshman Team
HIGH SCHOOL NOTES
• Earned four varsity letters at Ridge Community High School, where she was a four-time individual state qualifier
• Twice received Polk County Player of the Year honors
• Tied for third in the Florida Class 1A state golf championship with a 71-71=142 (-2) total
• Low round entering UT was 66
AMATEUR NOTES
• Won 13 times on the Florida Junior Tour and was named 2008 Florida Junior Tour Player of the Year as well as Florida State Women's Golf Association Junior Player of the Year
• Also named the 2009 Florida Junior Tour 16-18 Girls Points Champion
• Captured the 2008 Florida Junior Tour Major after firing a 4-under-par 212
• Won three consecutive Florida Junior Match Play Champion- ships from 2006-08
• Competed for the North Team in the Florida Junior Cup from 2007-09, serving as co-captain two years
• Finished in the top three at both American Junior Golf As- sociation events she participated in.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
• Majoring in sport management
• Highest ambitions are to play in the LPGA and win a na- tional championship at Tennessee
• Enjoys spending time with family and friends off the course
• Admires PGA golfer Hunter Mahan
• Loves attending Lady Vol basketball games
• Only wears black socks during tournaments
• Was a Principal's Scholar in high school
• Erica Megan Popson, daughter of Diana and Fred Popson, was born April 18, 1991, in Orlando, Fla.
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