SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. – Starting three hours later than originally scheduled, Carson-Newman used a balanced attack to hold eighth place after day 1 of the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate.
First round action was delayed due to ongoing rain overnight and into the morning, forcing play to begin at noon.
"One of hardest tests of patience in lousy conditions," Carson-Newman interim head coach Cathy Duggan said. "I'm proud of how everyone hung in there to battle the late start and playing conditions. I'm excited to see how we play the final two days."
The Eagles are in eighth place, but just one stroke back of Findlay for seventh. C-N trails second place North Alabama by just nine strokes and third place Dalton State by just five. Austin Peay State leads after day one after going 8-over as a team.
Maeve Cummins (Waringstown, Northern Ireland) led the way for Carson-Newman in the opening round with a 5-over 76 in round one. The graduate student recorded one of C-N's three birdies on the day. It came on the 341-yard par four 5th hole. She made par on her final three holes of the afternoon, totaling 13 pars for the day.
Ellie Haughton (Lincolnshire, England) was very consistent in her first round of the tournament. After bogeying two of her first three holes, the senior played her next 15 holes at just 4-over par to finish with a 6-over 77. She made 13 pars in the opening round.
Joining Haughton with an opening round of 77 is graduate student Hannah Holland (Sale Creek, Tenn.). Holland made the pars of any C-N golfer in the opening round, carding 14 of them. She went on a stretch in which she made six straight pars.
Ida Peterson (Copenhagen, Denmark) carded an opening round 7-over 78. The freshman recovered from a late triple bogey and made a birdie and a par on her final two holes of the day. Peterson made 13 pars in the first round.
Like Peterson, Caroline Nemes (Orlando, Fla.) followed closely in behind with a 7-over 78 to start her tournament. The sophomore made 11 pars in the opening round, while overcoming three double bogeys in the round. She played her final four holes of the day at 1-under par.
Individually, Ashley Holland (Sale Creek, Tenn.) carded an opening round 12-over 83. She made eight pars and one birdie in the opening round. She ranks sixth amongst players competing as an individual this week.
Carson-Newman made the most pars (63) on day one and finished in the top five for scoring average on the par 5s (5.08). All five Eagle golfers are in the top 35 after the opening round.
Tomorrow's second round action gets underway at 9 a.m. from Sevierville Golf Club.
Live scoring is available at this link:
https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=25523
