VIDEO: Suzanne Strudwick Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – After concluding the second tournament of the fall with a 7th place finish at the Patsy Rendleman Invitational, the Eagles look ahead to a trip to the Old Hickory Golf Club for the Women's Music City Invitational hosted by Trevecca Nazarene in Old Hickory, Tenn.
"We need to make a much better job of coming out of the blocks a lot quicker," head coach Suzanne Strudwick reflected on her team's showing at the previous tournament. "We're kind of putting ourselves behind the eight-ball shooting 313, which is not terrible, but it's not giving us an opportunity to win. We're about 10 shots off what we should be as a team to then be in a position to win.
"We're shooting exceptionally well on the second day so we come back well, but we're just not getting off the blocks."
This week's trip to Old Hickory will mark the team's first appearance in the Women's Music City Invitational. Leading the way for the Eagles team are Elizabeth England and Reagan Kinnie, two of the strongest golfers on the C-N squad through the first two tournaments of the fall slate.
England and Kinnie were exempt from team qualifying, allowing the rest of the team to compete for the remaining three team positions available for the event.
"(Only taking two automatic qualifiers) has made this week's qualifying way more competitive and a little bit on edge, and that's kind of what I wanted," Strudwick mentioned. "I wanted to light a little bit more of a fire under the players. The girls that are playing well now, that's who I want to take."
England has recorded first and 10th place finishes through the first two events while Kinnie has notched finishes good enough for sixth and 25th.
"They're kind of leaders in their work ethic, so it's not just what they do in competition, it's what they do off competition and in their own practice, team practice and our qualifiers," Strudwick said. "They're probably two of our hardest working players on our team and I that translates especially to our freshman that it's not just what we do as a team, but it's what you do outside of that."
Taylor Hayes will be making her third start of the season as a team qualifier. The junior finished the opening tournament of the season in Bristol at seventh-place on the leaderboard while finishing the Patsy Rendleman Invitational at a tie for 25th.
Freshmen Jayla Sims and Matilda Frovenholt will also compete for the Eagles.
Sims competed as an individual in the King Invitational with 12th-place tie before joining the C-N team at Salisbury for the second tournament, closing out in a tie for 35th.
Frovenholt hasn't seen playing time in an event with the Eagles since finishing in a tie for 15 at Bristol to open the season.
Individuals have played a splash in the first half of competitions for the Eagles, but no individual competitors will get travel to Old Hickory with the team for this event.
The Eagles will compete against 17 other teams including the University of Indianapolis, the second runner-up at the 2017 NCAA National Championship. Grand Valley State, the 12th place team from the NCAA Finals, will also appear. C-N is the only South Atlantic Conference team represented in the event.
"It's actually going to be one of our toughest competition tournaments," Strudwick mentioned. "Unless we qualify next year to regionals and then to the NCAA Finals we're not going to see this level of competition."
Trevecca's two-day invitational is set to tee-off Monday morning with an opening round of 18-holes.
