2019 Music City Invitational Home Page
VIDEO: Cydney Murrell Interview
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The three-week sequence of tournaments for No. 24 Carson-Newman rolls on as the Eagles search for a third-straight top-five finish on the season with a journey west on I-40 to the Women's Music City Invitational, hosted by Trevecca Nazarene, at the Old Fort Golf Club in Murfreesboro, Tenn. this week.
The Eagles head to the event after collecting their second top-five finish of the season with a fifth-place showing at the Winthrop Invitational last Monday. Nine of the 12 round scores came within the 70s with each of the six Eagles in the field scoring at least one round within that range.
"I think [that finish] was important for the girls because they're able to see that they can be consistent," Carson-Newman assistant coach Cydney Murrell said. "It shows the other teams that we're right there with them so I think it's good for the girls."
Six Eagles will make the trip once again this week since an individual gets to join the field. Within the group, five will be returning to the event. Jayla Sims (Soddy Daisy, Tenn.) and Reagan Kinnie (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) head back to the event for a third-straight season while Maeve Cummins (Waringstown, Northern Ireland), Rachel Watts (Newport, Tenn.) and Matilda Frövenholt (Öjersjö, Sweden) all head back for their second appearances.
Cummins will lead the team for the first time since the State Farm Intercollegiate in mid-September. She still leads the team with a 74.7 scoring average through the first three events of the season.
Swapping her position from last week with the sophomore heading to Murfreesboro this week is Watts, playing at the No. 2 slot for the first time this season. The senior posted a 12-over outing at the Winthrop Invitational last week to tie for 27th.
Sims heads into her second third-spot appearance in the starting lineup for the 2019-20 campaign following a record-setting performance for her career. She carded her best 36-hole score last week with a 150, a total good enough for a share of 12th on the leaderboard. The junior improved her scoring average on the year by an entire shot, now holding a 77.4 through seven rounds.
Playing at the No. 4 this week is Kinnie. The junior is sitting with a 78.4 average through the first three events of the season.
Rounding out the starting five for the Eagles is Ellie Haughton (Lincolnshire, England). This is the first time the freshman will be hitting the links since her 11-over outing in her collegiate debut at the State Farm Intercollegiate.
Frövenholt will serve as the individual for C-N this week, her second time in the position this season. The junior scored a career-best 151 through 36 holes at Winthrop to help move her scoring average this year to a 77.9, nearly a shot lower than where she was heading into last week.
This is the third-straight appearance the Orange and Blue are making in the event. The team has never seen lower than a third-place showing in the tournament, going third last year after a second-place finish in 2017.
This year marks the first that the event is taking place at the Old Fort Golf Club in Murfreesboro. The course spans 6,026 yards with a 72 par.
While the course is new for the group, it brings a bit of a homecoming for Kinnie who grew up near the course.
"We've talked with Reagan and she has explained the course a lot for the girls," Murrell said. "We all think that the girls are going to play well. They're confident now. They're ready to compete, so I think they're just really excited to get out there and have someone who knows a little bit about the course before we head in there."
C-N is one of 18 teams in the field this season and is one of just two nationally ranked squads competing. The other team represented in the most recent Women's Golf Coaches Association poll released in September is the University of Indianapolis, ranked No. 2 in the nation. Maryville University of St. Louis, also making the trip to the Music City, received one vote in the poll.
The two-day tournament begins on Monday with a single round of action before a final round on Tuesday will wrap up the event. Both days will commence at 9 a.m. CT from Murfreesboro. Fans can follow live scoring throughout the 36 holes by way of Golfstat.
