MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – A 13-over day for No. 24 Carson-Newman placed it at third on the leaderboard by the end of the first round, but it was individual Matilda Frövenholt (Öjersjö, Sweden) who paced the entire Orange and Blue crew by sitting in a tie for fourth through the first round of the Women's Music City Invitational at the Old Fort Golf Club on Monday.
"Some of the team got off to a rough start, but they really pulled it together and came in with good scores," Carson-Newman assistant coach Cydney Murrell said. "Our goal was coming in at top three for the second round and tomorrow we can move up further. The team has a great chance of moving up tomorrow."
Frövenholt carded her second-lowest single-round score in her career with a 74 on the day, two-under par. She sits just six shots out of the lead heading into Tuesday. A mere three shots separated all six of the Eagles in the field through the first round with three of them all going three-over on the day.
The team's 301 in the round marks the lowest round scored by the team in each of its last two appearances. Before today, the lowest it shot in a round at the invitational was a 304 in the second round in 2017.
Carson-Newman tied for the top spot for par 5 scoring with a two-under score on such holes. Its 14 birdies on the day were the second-most in the field.
Frövenholt was two-over by the turn of the day on a birdie and bogey on back-to-back holes before a double-bogey on the par-4 18th. She opened up her back-nine with another birdie-bogey combo and followed that with seven-straight holes for par. The junior tied for fourth-most on the par count in the round with 13.
Maeve Cummins (Waringstown, Northern Ireland), Rachel Watts (Newport, Tenn.) and Jayla Sims (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) all carded a 75 on the day to hold a share of ninth-place.
Cummins was the only Eagle under par heading into the back nine thanks to a trio of birdies with a pair of bogeys late in the morning. A triple-bogey on the par-3 12th pushed her to two-over before a bogey four holes later set her at three-over.
Watts' morning came with a bogey out the gate before seeing two more bogeys and a double bogey all right in a row heading to the back nine. In the afternoon, the senior fired for birdie three times on just one bogey.
Sims started her day with a double-bogey on the first hole of the day. She tacked on three more bogeys with two birdies to be three-over at the turn. She stayed even in the back-nine with a bogey and birdie. Out of the four bogeys she carded on the day, three came exclusively on par-4 holes.
Reagan Kinnie (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) was one shot behind the trio at the end of Monday with a four-over 76, tied for 16th. Her day began with a bogey and birdie in her first two holes before staying even on the next nine holes. The senior closed her day by going four-over in a span of seven holes, due mainly in part to a triple-bogey on the par-4 18th.
Ellie Haughton (Lincolnshire, England) was five-over on the day to hold a share of 22nd. The freshman saw two birdies in the round, both coming on holes nine and 10. Outside of that, she shot for bogey seven times, four of those coming in sequential holes toward the middle of the back-nine.
No. 2 UINDY paces the field through the first day with a three-over 291. It holds a nine-shot lead on the rest of the field with Ferris State in second at 12-over C-N at 13-over.
On the player side, UINDY is represented at the top two spots with Pilar Echeverria leading the way with a four-under 68 and Cailyn Henderson in second at three-under. Ferris State's Destiny Lawson is third at one-under.
The tournament concludes tomorrow with one more round of play beginning at 9 a.m. CT with another shotgun start. Live scoring will once again be available through Golfstat.