HILTON HEAD, S.C. – Freshman Maeve Cummins (Waringstown, Northern Ireland) closed out her first event as the team leader with a tie for fifth, helping Carson-Newman to maintain its position for a third-place finish at the Battle at Hilton Head on Tuesday.
The Eagles shot a second-straight round of 308, en route to their fifth-straight top three finish. They were 40-over by the end of Tuesday with a 616 total score.
"We were pushing hard to beat Anderson, just four shots behind (in the round)," coach Suzanne Strudwick said. "I'm really pleased with a better team score today playing tougher setup. Pins were much harder to get so we did well."
C-N was the best par 3 scoring team with a 3.15 average and three-over while being the second-best par 5 team at +1 and shooting the second-most birdies with 10.
Cummins' tie for fifth came after a 75 on Tuesday, giving her a two-round total of 149 and a spot on the All-Tournament team. The freshman faced some struggles early in the final round, starting off with a bogey and double-bogey and holes one and two. She added on another bogey later to be four-over heading into the back nine. She picked up the pace in the later part of the day with two birdies and a bogey.
"I'm continually impressed with Maeve and her consistency and determination for a freshman," Strudwick said. "She is leading the way for us just as Elizabeth England did in her impressive freshman career."
Five shots behind Cummins with a 154 total was Reagan Kinnie (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), who tacked on four shots to her opening round 75 to go seven-over in the final round to tie for 16th. She sandwiched a birdie between four bogeys and carded another bogey two holes later to sit at +4 before the afternoon. A trio of birdies in the afternoon pushed her to a 79 on the day.
Through the tournament, Kinnie tied for the second-best showing on par 3 holes with a one-under average at 2.75 and she shot the most birdies with five.
Matilda Frövenholt (Öjersjö, Sweden) made a four-stroke improvement on Tuesday with a four-over performance, moving her into a tie for 21st at 12-over. The sophomore was two-over through her first nine holes of the day with a couple of bogeys. From there, she carded three more bogeys on just one birdie to card a 76 in the final round for a 156 overall.
One stroke behind her was Rachel Watts (Newport, Tenn.), who was one shot better in the final round of play with a +6 day at 78, giving her a 157 total in a tie for 26th. Her day started with four-straight bogeys that came right before a birdie. Another bogey and birdie landed her at three-over through the first nine. She added on a couple more bogeys in the afternoon.
Three shots behind Watts was Taylor Hayes (Lake Ozark, Mo.) in a tie for 35th with a +16 total of 160. She turned in a seven-over day on Tuesday, shooting two strokes lower than she did on Monday. By the time she closed out her first nine holes of the final round, the senior was already seeing a turn for the better at one-under. She started her day with a bogey but cleaned it up with back-to-back birdies. In the latter part of the day, She carded was three-over on two par 3 holes with a double bogey in between.
Individual Allie Fletcher (Cummins, Ga.) closed out the event at 21-over with a 165 total, landing her in a tie for 53rd. She was five-over on five bogeys by the afternoon. The junior shot for par on the next seven holes before a four-over showing on the par 4 16th and a double bogey on the final hole pushed her to 11-over on the day with an 83.
The Eagles landed 20 shots out of first by the end of the week with No. 15/16 Florida Tech taking home the tournament title with a +20 total of 596. Fellow South Atlantic Conference member Anderson was second at 33-over, just seven strokes ahead of C-N.
Florida Tech held the top two spots on the player leaderboard with Lucy Eaton winning the top medalist at one-over with a 145 and Lauren Watson at second with a 146. Rogers State's Jess Whitting was third at three-over.
Carson-Newman will endure a quick turnaround to head to Columbus, Ga. for the Lady Cougar Classic. That event will take place on March 4 and 5.
|
Carson-Newman |
308 |
308 |
616 |
+40 |
3rd |
|
74 |
75 |
149 |
+5 |
T-5th |
|
|
75 |
79 |
154 |
+10 |
T-16th |
|
|
80 |
76 |
156 |
+12 |
T-21st |
|
|
79 |
78 |
157 |
+13 |
T-26th |
|
|
81 |
79 |
160 |
+16 |
T-35th |
|
|
82 |
83 |
165 |
+21 |
T-53rd |