ANDERSON, S.C. – For the second consecutive year, Carson-Newman scores a program-best team score in the final round to finish in third place at the 2023 South Atlantic Conference Championships.
Carson-Newman breaks its previous best team score mark of 297 set in last year's final round, with a 294 final round score in this year's version of the SAC Championships. The final round 294 score tied with Anderson for the best team score in the final round. The final round was C-N's best score as a team this season.
C-N finished the week +41 with a 905-team score for the tournament. It's the lowest team score at the SAC Championships in program history. The Eagles finished just six strokes back of second place Wingate and improved their second to third round score by 13 strokes.
The strong 54-hole team effort marks the second straight season that the Eagles have finished in third place at the SAC Championships.
The Eagles finished with four golfers inside the top 20 for the first time at the SAC Championships in program history.
Anderson won the SAC women's golf championships with a three-round 1-over score of 865, winning by 34 strokes. Anderson's Kennedy Gooding took home individual medalist honors with a 4-under 212 score.
Leading the way in the final round was Ellie Haughton (Lincolnshire, England). The senior scored a 1-under 71 to move into a tie for 11th place. The under-par round is her second under par effort this season. Haughton made three birdies in the final round. Two of those birdies came on the back nine, where she also had seven pars to help finish under par. Haughton made 24 pars in the tournament, a team-best, good for seventh most in the field.
Maeve Cummins (Waringston, Northern Ireland) followed right behind Haughton's lead, scoring an even par round of 72. The graduate student made birdie on three of her final five holes of the day to finish off a phenomenal round.
Cummins finishes the strong 54-hole performance as C-N's highest finisher in sixth. Her success can be attributed to her stellar play on the par 4s, going 2-over for the week, the third best scoring mark. For the second straight year, Cummins carded six birdies which tied her for sixth-most in the field. The sixth-place finish earned her all-tournament honors for the second straight year as well.
Hannah Holland (Sale Creek, Tenn.) closed her SAC Championship career with a 6-over 78 in the final round. Holland played her first 15 holes of the day at even par. She stumbled down the stretch, making a double bogey, triple bogey, and bogey on her final three holes of the day. Despite the rough finish, Holland was C-N's fourth best final round score and finished in a tie for 14th.
Caroline Nemes (Orlando, Fla.) played her best golf of the week in the final round, going 1-over for a 73 this afternoon. Nemes played the front nine even par, with one bogey and one birdie. A late bogey on hole 17 just pushed the sophomore to over par for the day. Nemes made 13 pars in her 1-over final round. Nemes was C-N's fourth golfer to finish inside the top 20, in a tie for 16th.
Ida Peterson (Copenhagen, Denmark) finished the tournament with a 12-over 84 in the final round. The freshman made five pars in the final round, four of which came on the back nine. Peterson finished in a tie for 46th.
Carson-Newman finished in the top five in scoring average on the par 3s, 4s and 5s. C-N's 19 birdies during the three days was fourth most, and its 96 pars were fifth most.
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