CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Maeve Cummins (Waringstown, Northern Ireland) used a three-over day to make her NCAA Women's Division II South Regional debut in a tie for 15th on Monday at the Cleveland Country Club.
The freshman carded a 75 in the first round, placing her seven shots out of the lead.
"Maeve did well today," Carson-Newman coach Suzanne Strudwick said. "Greens are very difficult so, having only one practice round, I think she did well. She hit the ball very well today -- 87 percent fairways and 67 percent greens in regulations with 33 percent scrambling and 32 putts. Making more putts is going to make the difference in the next two rounds."
Cummins shot back-to-back bogeys on holes 12 and 13 before a bogey on the par-4 16th landed her at one-over heading into the turn of her day.
She opened the front nine of the course with a bogey-birdie sequence. A double-bogey on the par-4 4th pushed her to two-over in the latter half of her round. She closed the day with five-straight even holes to sit at three-over.
Cummins' 12 par shots in the round were enough to tie for the 18th-most in the field. She tied for 14th on birdies with two.
Florida Tech's Lucy Eaton leads the field after 18 holes with a four-under 68. She has separated herself from the rest of the pack by two shots with Limestone's Pilar Martinez and Saint Leo's Isabel Nesteus tied for second at two-under.
On the team side, Florida Tech leads the way at six-over with a 294 total. Saint Leo sits at second at seven-over with Nova Southeastern third at nine-over.
The regional rolls on tomorrow with another round of play. Cummins will hit the links at 10:10 a.m. Fans can follow her progress through Golfstat with live scoring coming after every three holes.
