JEKYLL ISLAND, Ga. – The Carson-Newman women's golf team sits 10 shots out of first at third-place with Maeve Cummins leading the team in a tie for fourth after Monday's first round of the Jekyll-O-Lantern Intercollegiate.
"Today we had some good scores by Taylor (Hayes) and Maeve (Cummins) who kept us in the hunt," coach Suzanne Strudwick said. "We need the whole team to step up tomorrow."
As a whole, Carson-Newman shot a 304 in the first round at 16-over. It was the third-best team on par-4 scoring with a 4.22 average at +11. It tied with No. 21 Tampa for par scoring on 57 holes.
Maeve Cummins (Waringstown, Northern Ireland), C-N's second-seed, carded her second-lowest round in her first year at C-N with a 73 on Monday, one-shot over par. The freshman opened her day with back-to-back bogeys before a birdie on 13 set her up for 15-straight even holes, the most of anyone in the field.
Cummins tied for the fourth-best showing on par-4 and par-5 holes in the first day with an even 4.00 and 5.00 stroke average on such holes, respectively.
One shot behind her is fifth-seeded Taylor Hayes (Lake Ozark, Mo.) in a tie for sixth. In the back nine, she went one-over on a birdie-bogey sequence with a bogey on 18. In the front nine, the senior was on par for eight-straight holes before a bogey on nine, pushing her to two-over on the day with a 74, matching her lowest round score of the season.
Hayes carded par scoring on 14 holes in the first day, the second-most in the field.
Rachel Watts (Newport, Tenn.), sitting at the fourth spot for Carson-Newman, holds a share of 23rd heading into the final round after a six-over outing on Monday with a 78. The junior saw a pair of birdie and bogeys between holes 12 and 16 before a bogey on 18 sat her at one over heading into the turn. She opened the front nine with two more bogeys before a double bogey and bogey on holes seven and eight gave her a five-over showing in her last nine holes of the round.
Tied with Watts after Monday is individual Matilda Frövenholt (Öjersjö, Sweden). The sophomore also shot one-over in the back-nine but did so by shooting even for par on all but the 16th hole before heading to the front nine. There she went five-over with a bogey on the second-hole before carding a double bogey and back-to-back-bogeys on holes four, five and six.
Reagan Kinnie (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), the team's No. 1 seed, landed in a tie for 30th by the end of Monday with a seven-over score of 79. The junior shot for bogey four times to open the day before heading into the front nine. There she carded three more bogeys with a double-bogey on the sixth hole but was able to salvage her outing with a pair of birdies, one of those coming on the final hole of the day.
The Eagles' No. 3 seed Jayla Sims (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) rounded out the group of C-N participants on the leaderboard in a tie for 41 at eight-over. Her day opened with a three-over showing in the back nine on a couple of bogeys that were followed by a double bogey and birdie. A triple-bogey on the fourth hole elevated her score to six-over before two bogey bogeys forced her to card an 80 in the first round, the sophomore's highest round score this season.
Columbus State leads the 15-team field through the first round with a six-over total of 294. One shot behind the Cougars is No. 21 Tampa in second-place.
Anna Meleshkina from Columbus State and Kirra Riihijarvi from Tampa are tied at the top of the player leaderboard at two-under. One shot behind them with a 71 in the first round is Columbus state's Victoria Libaak.
The tournament concludes on Tuesday after one more round at the Jekyll Island Golf Club. Live scoring will once again be provided through BirdieFire.
