MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – No. 12 Carson-Newman made a seven-shot improvement from the first round to the second on Monday, landing it in fourth-place through the first day of the Low Tide Intercollegiate at 41-over.
The Eagles went into the clubhouse after 36 holes sitting 25 shots back of the lead spot held down by hosting No. 3 Limestone. They shots rounds of 312 and 305 to sit at a 617 total.
"Weather was a big factor with the gusty wind for 27 holes today," Carson-Newman coach Suzanne Strudwick said. "Then for the last nine, thankfully, it died down. There's a big test for the team tomorrow to finish strong. Today and last week, we haven't done that, even though we ended up winning last week by a shot. We could have made a bigger impact.
Carson-Newman was on-par for the second most holes on Monday at 111, tying for fifth with 13 birdies. Its 2-over scoring clip of 5.05 on par-5 holes was also third in the field.
As a unit, C-N's 24-over morning was led by 5-over-par efforts from Maeve Cummins (Waringstown, Northern Ireland) and Matilda Frövenholt (Öjersjö, Sweden). The Eagles fired just five birdies in the opening round, taking on 30 holes for bogey or higher.
By the end of the evening, the pair were still leading the way for the Orange and Blue, shaving a shot off of their opening-round scores to help the team go 17-over for the round with nearly every Eagle improving their scores.
Cummins and Frövenholt tied for 19th through 36 holes with matching rounds of 77 and 76 to go 9-over at 153.
Cummins was on par for 13 of the first round holes, scoring bogeys on the other five. Her 4-over afternoon was capped with four bogeys. All-told she was on par for 27 holes throughout both of Monday's rounds, tying for the most in the field.
Frövenholt opened her day with the most birdies among each C-N player in the first round at two, both coming early in the back nine. She went for bogey on five holes with a double-bogey on the par-4 18th hole to close the morning. The senior went without a birdie in the second round, netting a pair of bogeys with a double-bogey on the par-5 4th hole.
Three shots behind the duo sits Hannah Holland (Sale Creek, Tenn.) tied for 27th, heading into Tuesday's final at 12-over with a 156. The redshirt-sophomore shot an 80 in the first round at 8-over, carding a single birdie with five holes for bogey or higher. She was four shots better by the end of the second round, going just four-over with a trio of birdies and seven bogeys.
Directly behind Holland on the leaderboard is Ellie Haughton (Lincolnshire, England) in a tie for 30th at 14-over. She had the highest round for C-N throughout the first 18 holes with a 9-over 81. Like Holland, she made a four-shot improvement in the second round, carding a 77 on four bogeys, a double-bogey and a birdie.
Making her C-N debut, Alice Thomas (Mid Glamorgan, Wales) heads into the final round also in a tie for 30th with a 158 total. The freshman was six-over through her first round with a 78, mainly due in part to four bogeys and a triple-bogey to close the round. By the end of the second, Thomas was leading the team in birdies for the round, firing four of them with three in the front-nine. She finished with a team-high 80 in the round. Thomas was tied for the second-lowest par-5 scoring average by the end of Monday with a three-under 4.63.
Limestone leads the event heading into Tuesday, sitting 12 shots ahead of No. 10/20 Anderson. No. 21/15 North Georgia holds a five-shot advantage on C-N, rounding out the top three.
Ebba Hellman of Limestone leads the field with an even 144. Wingate's Hailey Lamb is second at 1-over while Limestone's Stina Wikstrom and North Georgia's Megan Sabol are tied for third at 2-over.
"Tomorrow we need to play the last holes much stronger, with more confidence and conviction in believing in ourselves," Strudwick said. "We let a couple of schools pass us today that we should be beating. I'm looking for some inspired play from our team to move up a couple spots."
The event closes up on Tuesday with one final round of play starting with a shotgun start at 9 a.m. Semi-live scoring will once again be available through Golfstat.
