Suzanne Strudwick interview

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman's women's golf team dropped a spot to fifth after the second round of the South Atlantic Conference Golf Championships Monday afternoon at the Sevierville Golf Club. 

The Eagles added a pair of strokes to their round one score to finish at 680 for the three-round event.  C-N is +104 as a team and nine strokes back of fourth place Newberry. 

"We've had to manage expectations and that's been tough this week," Carson-Newman head women's golf coach Suzanne Strudwick said. "There's the expectation to defend home turf.  As a result, we haven't been relaxed and having fun.  That's what we're trying to do." 

Kelli Pemberton (Knoxville, Tenn.) saw the most improvement from round one to round two, shaving eight strokes off her score.  She fired an 84 (+8) for the second day to close in a tie for 30^th.   Pemberton made the improvement almost entirely on one hole.  On day one, she shot a nine on the par-three 11^th.  For round two, she birdied the hole.

The tournament's top seed Meridith Hawkins (Powell, Tenn.) also cut her score by a stroke with an 84 (+8) for the second round.  Hawkins is in a tie for 18^th with teammate Mary Tunnell (Cordova, Tenn.).  Hawkins began her day by shooting nine-over on the front nine.  However, she proceeded to make par on seven of the holes on the back nine with a birdie mixed in for good measure to close at plus three on the back nine. 

Tunnell shot an 85 in the second round. She birdied 15. 

"It's not their ability to play well.  They have all the ability in the world," Strudwick said. "This is about freeing themselves and relaxing.  We can't blame the weather.  The rain softened the greens and slowed it down.  This is very much a mental thing we have to work through."

Lauren Hodge (Jefferson City, Tenn.) improved by two strokes with an 88 (+16) for day two.  Danielle Baiunco (Melbourne, Fla.) fired a 91 to fall to a tie for 23^rd after two rounds. 

Chelsea Passmore (Knoxville, Tenn.)  competed as an individual and is in a tie for 21^st after her second 85 (+13) over the event.

The Eagles hit the course, weather pending, at 10 a.m.  Passmore has a 9:09 tee time as an individual. 

5 Carson-Newman University 339 341 680 +104

T 18 Mary Tunnell 84 85 169 +25

T 18 Meridith Hawkins 85 84 169 +25

T 23 Danielle Baiunco 80 91 171 +27

T 30 Kelli Pemberton 92 84 176 +32

T 34 Lauren Hodge 90 88 178 +34