JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman women's golf team will continue its streak of participating in this week's Agnes McAmis Memorial hosted by Tusculum that will be played at Link Hills Country Club in Greeneville, Tenn.
The Eagles have played in the tournament every year since the creation of the program in the 2008-09 season. Carson-Newman has finished in the top-five five times with second-place being the best finish in 2011 and 2014. C-N finished third in 2009 and 2010 and tied for fifth in 2012.
The Eagles will be participating in their second tournament in eight days after playing in last week's Wingate Intercollegiate Challenge where they finished ninth. Unfavorable playing conditions hampered the team's first round scores, but the team recovered for a strong second round, but coach Suzanne Strudwick will be looking for even better play this week.
"There's still room for improvement and I'm really looking for that in this week's tournament," Strudwick said. "It's a local event basically for us; we are going to stay on campus and travel up each day. Last year, we finished second; I've got just as good of team as I did last year, so I'm hoping for one better."
Ten teams from last week's Wingate Intercollegiate will travel to Greeneville for this week's tournament, including Converse and Newberry who tied for second-place in Charlotte. The other teams participating from Wingate's tournament are: Lincoln Memorial, Lenior-Rhyne, USC Beaufort, Wingate, King and Pfeiffer. Young Harris, Brevard, Catawba, Spartanburg Methodist, Lander, Anderson (S.C.) and UVA Wise.
Over the span of the two competitions, Carson-Newman has now faced every South Atlantic Conference team ahead of the SAC Championships. The Eagles have also faced off against some of the Southeast region's top teams, which include Limestone King.
"It makes for some really good rivalries, just like the other sports, and that's what I would really want for us. We struggle regionally with the Florida schools with the weather conditions they get year-round and we don't," Strudwick said. "0For me, we always get a slower start, but I want to build the momentum and make that carry through into conference."
The same six golfers that have competed in Carson-Newman's previous two tournaments will once again compete in Greeneville. Senior Danielle Baiunco (Melbourne, Fla.), juniors Meridith Hawkins (Powell, Tenn.), Rebekah Pruett (Niceville, Fla.), Kelli Pemberton (Knoxville, Tenn.), sophomore Jessica Hart (Roanoke, Va.) and freshman Elizabeth England (Oakland, Tenn.) make up the five-person team and a lone individual.
Baiunco has a stroke average of 79.8, which is the only other sub-80 stroke average on the team along with England. In each of the past three rounds, Baiunco has improved her second round score by at least four strokes. Last week at the Wingate Intercollegiate, the senior dropped seven strokes off her score
England finished tied for 15th last week in Charlotte. The freshman has the third-lowest stroke average among newcomers in the league. Tusculum's Ciara Rattana possesses the lowest average with 78.1 strokes per round and Catawba's Alexis Kershaw has an average of 78.3. England's average is 79.1, but the Oakland, Tenn.-native has also played five more rounds than season than her closest competitor.
"It's going to be a combination of me picking who I think is on form, who has got that momentum we have talked about, work ethic and I know those girls that have that and are really pushing hard to make it. We are going to use last week's scores combinations and Link Hills combinations of scores to decide the team."
Link Hills Country Club stretches 5,832-yards and plays as a par-72 course.
The 36-hole tournament kicks off with 18 holes Monday with an 11 a.m. shotgun start. A run down of each day's round will be available on cneagles.com.
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