Day One Results
FLEMING ISLAND, Fla. – With four of the five participating Eagles improving their shots through the second half of the day, the Carson-Newman women's golf team closed out the first round with a +30 team total of 314 to start the Women's Spring Kickoff Intercollegiate at sixth place on Monday at the Golf Club at Fleming Island.
"Everyone struggled with swings, confidence was low so a lot of self-doubt," head coach Suzanne Strudwick said. "We have talked about trusting, believing and commitment over the shot for tomorrow."
The team round of 314 ties the eighth-lowest round for the team this season, matching the mark set during the second round of the CBU Super Regional Preview back at the end of October.
Carson-Newman tied with Tusculum for the second most birdies on Monday at 11.
Taylor Hayes (Lake Ozark, Mo.), playing at the top spot for the Eagles, was four-over to start her day on the front nine. She was on par most for the Eagles down the early stretch, shooting even on five holes, four of those coming in the first four holes. Aside from the couple of double bogeys she shot on the second half of the course, she notched three birdies to attain a +5 score of 76 on the first day, placing her at a three-way tie for 15th to be the Eagle highest on the leaderboard.
While the junior was even on Par 3 holes, she tied for third-best on holes with a par of five, shooting -2 on such holes. She also shot the second-most birdies on the day with four.
Jayla Sims (Hixson, Tenn.) held a six-over score through the front nine with four bogeys and one double bogey. On the second half of the course, she shot two birdies with two bogeys for an even score, bringing her first day total to a six-over 77. She was one stroke behind Hayes for a tie at 18th.
Her round of 77 marks her third-lowest round of the season.
Rachel Watts (Newport, Tenn.) was strong through the morning, recording a +2 score of 38 through the first nine holes. In that stretch, she recorded a pair of birdies with two bogeys and one double bogey. The back nine was tougher for the sophomore, shooting four bogeys with a double bogey for a +6 score, bringing her total to an eight-over score of 79 that was good enough for a 29th place tying finish on Monday.
Matilda Frovenholt (Öjersjö, Sweden), like her fellow freshman, Sims, was six-over on the morning. She had a birdie on the fourth hole, but shot a pair of bogeys, a double bogey and was three-over on another. She improved her play by one stroke in the back nine, going +5 for an eleven-over total of 82, helping her to land at a tie for 35th on the leaderboard.
Reagan Kinnie (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) found the most struggles through the front nine of the course, shooting +11. She shot for par on three holes while going over on the rest of the holes, four of those being bogeys. She double bogeyed on the seventh and shot 5-over on hole three. The second half of the day brought a much-needed turnaround for the sophomore who improved by eight strokes to finish at +14 on the day for a spot at 47th.
"I am hoping tomorrow will be a better day and (we) finish strong or we will have to step up practice over spring break," Strudwick said.
Tusculum was the top team on Monday with a +12 effort for a 296 total. One stroke behind was Lincoln Memorial at 297 followed by North Georgia with a 15-over day to round out the top three.
Lenoir-Rhyne's Abbey Hartsell was the top individual through the first 18 holes with a one-under score of 70. Cydney Murrell of Tusculum was even for the second-place spot while third featured a tie between host team Lincoln Memorial's Lise Malherbe and North Georgia's Megan Sabol at one-over.
The Intercollegiate will conclude on Tuesday after one final round of 18 holes. While live scoring will be provided through BirdieFire, a full recap along with results from the links will be available on CNeagles.com once the event is over.
