ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Facing its first round of tournament golf since October, the Carson-Newman women's golf team ended the opening round of the World Golf Invitational at the Slammer and Squire with a tenth-place performance on Sunday.
The Eagles recorded a team total of 321 with a +33 showing, recording six birdies and shot on par for a total of 43 holes in tough weather conditions.
C-N was the best Par 3 scoring team, shooting a 3.20 average at four-over on such holes. On the other hand, the team tallied the second-highest score of +12 on Par 5 holes, just three strokes better than Young Harris.
"We had high gusty winds then pouring rain through our back nine," head coach Suzanne Strudwick said. "Overall, a bit of a shay start and definitely room for improvement."
Senior Elizabeth England (Oakland, Tenn.) was the team leader through the first 18 holes of the tournament, landing at a tie for 16th on the leaderboard with a 5-over score of 77. She was +3 through the back-nine of the course to open the day with birdies on holes 15 and 18 but bogeyed on seven holes total, five of those happening between the 10th and 18th holes.
England was -1 on par 3 holes, landing her at a tie for second on scoring for such holes. Teammate Reagan Kinnie (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) was not far behind at the conclusion of Sunday, shooting even on par three with three other participants in the field.
Kinnie had the strongest showing for the Eagles to start the day, shooting even for par on her first nine holes before going six-over on the front end of the course to finish the day at a tie for 24th with a round of 78. The sophomore shot three birdies through Sunday with six bogeys.
Taylor Hayes (Lake Ozark, Mo.) shot birdies on her first three holes on the day en route to a 10-over round of 82 that was good enough for a tie at 46. Two strokes behind the junior was teammate Allie Fletcher (Cumming, Ga.) with a score of 84 at a tie for 59. The sophomore was strong through holes one to five, shooting even with a bogey on the second hole and a birdie on the fourth before recording a double-bogey on the sixth hole and a four-over attempt on the eighth.
Sophomore Rachel Watts (Newport, Tenn.) had a tough time getting the ball rolling on her first two holes of the day, shooting six-over before finding a turnaround that led her to ending Sunday with a +16 score of 88 to place her at a tie for 85th on the leaderboard.
"We didn't expect too much since our pre-tournament preparations have been difficult due to weather at home," Strudwick mentioned. "But this will serve us well as we go forward into the season."
Florida Tech landed at the top of the leaderboard with a +13 round of 301. Second-ranked Nova Southeastern took second through day one just three strokes behind while host school No. 24 Flagler shot a 306 for third place.
Individually, West Florida's Paloma Vaccaro was the lowest scorer with a -2 round of 70 on Sunday followed by Florida Tech's Noelle Beijer just a stroke behind her. Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah's Maria Paula Otero and Nova Southeastern's Jamie Freedman landed at third with a one-over score of 73.
The World Golf Hall of Fame Invitational will wrap up on Monday with a final round of 18 holes.
