VIDEO: Suzanne Strudwick Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – A busy month for the Carson-Newman women's golf team in which they'll play three tournaments in less than four weeks begins on Sunday with the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate, which will stretch until Tuesday and take place at the Sevierville Golf Club in Sevierville, Tenn.
"One of the reasons I love playing [in this event]," said coach Suzanne Strudwick, "is the players get to sleep in their own beds and it's on a golf course that we know very well. Even though it's a Division I event, it's a home tournament for us."
This is the third time the Eagles have hit the links this spring, with their last tournament, the Converse Spring Invite in Spartanburg, S.C., coming nearly a month ago. The Eagles carved out an eighth place finish in that event.
Elizabeth England (Oakland, Tenn.) was Strudwick's top performer in Spartanburg. She shot an 11-over 155 to earn a tie for ninth and collect the ninth top 10 finish of her career. She's finished in the top 15 four times in six competitions during the 2016-17 campaign, including her victory at the King Intercollegiate in September. The junior has also finished as her team's top scorer three times and she owns six of C-N's top 10 scores this year to go with a 77.5 stroke average.
"The very first event she played in this year, she had a really poor second round," said Strudwick. "From there, she's been on a charge. It's almost like that was a wake-up call. The second time out, she shot a 68 in the final round and won it and she's kept up that same pressure on herself. She's put the pedal to the medal and played well."
Also taking the course for the Eagles will be Taylor Hayes (Lake Ozark, Mo.), who has played in every event for Carson-Newman this season, save one. Her stroke average currently sits at 79.31, the third-best on the squad. She has a pair of rounds at two-over to her credit during the current campaign, one of which came during the Barton Invitational in February, where she tied for seventh. Hayes has posted the best finish on Coach Strudwick's team in three of Eagles' competitions.
The Eagles have benefitted from a recent stretch of good play from senior Jessica Hart (Roanoke, Va.). After posting a final round 80 at the Barton Invitational, she was one of two winners for Carson-Newman in their dual match loss to Newberry. Hart followed that up by placing 17th in Spartanburg, her best finish of the season, where she also shot a season-low six-over 78.
Freshman Allie Fletcher (Cumming, Ga.) has been a constant in the Carson-Newman lineup this season, having played in all seven competitions, and she'll continue that streak in Sevierville. Fletcher has a stroke average of 84.14 and her best 18 hole mark in the Blue and Orange was a six-over 78 she carded during the Newberry Regional Preview in the fall.
The fifth spot for the team from Mossy Creek will be filled by Reagan Kinnie (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), Katie Medley (Cleveland, Tenn.) or Rachel Watts (Newport, Tenn.). One of those three will also be playing in the tournament as an individual. For Kinnie, it would be her first chance of the spring after she crafted a 79.11 stroke average in the fall, which still stands as C-N's second-best. She also has two of her squad's top seven rounds of golf and finished second in the King Intercollegiate.
Joining the Eagles at the Sevierville Golf Club will be a field of top-notch competition. Including host school Tennessee Tech, C-N will also have to content with five Division I programs, with the other four being Radford University, Belmont University, Tennessee State, the University of Evansville and the No. 15 team in Division II, the Lee Flames.
Last season, Strudwick saw her crew finish eighth in Sevierville. Hayes was her team's best player thanks to a 26-over 242 that tied her for 17th. England completed 54 holes tied for 27th while Hart was even with several players for 51st.
The tournament, which will consist of 18 holes on each day, will take place on a 5,803 yard stretch of grass known as the club's Highlands Course, which is has a par of 72. It is a course that includes lush rolling hills, as well as fresh mountain ponds that each golf must do their best to avoid.
"This is a course that we've practiced and played on multiple times," said Strudwick. "They're going to set it up a little bit differently compared to what we're used to, but we've practiced on these tee boxes during the last week and hopefully, we'll be going to the same flags, so we feel pretty prepared."
All three days are scheduled for a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m., through this is subject to change due to weather. At the conclusion of each round, a recap and results will be published on cneagles.com.
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