MONROE, N.C. – Carson-Newman women's golf put together a strong final round but fell just short of winning the Surratt Memorial Invitational Championship Tuesday afternoon in Monroe, North Carolina.
At the end of 54 holes, Carson-Newman was tied with the host, Wingate at 912 strokes (+48 over par). In the format of play five count the four best scores, the fifth player's score is the first tiebreaker to determine the winner. In this case, Wingate's fifth score was three strokes better, giving the Bulldogs the championship.
"Very proud of the way the girls played all week," Director of golf Randy Wylie said. "Really happy to see Maeve (Cummins) Hannah (Holland) and Caroline (Nemes) all have top five finishes. It was an excellent effort against very good competition. This should set us up nicely going into the conference championship."
C-N's final round team score of 299 was its 3rd best team effort this season. Carson-Newman had three players finish inside the top five for the first time this season. It marks the first time since the King University Invitational in 2018, that the Eagles had at least three players finish a tournament inside the top five.
The Eagles cap a strong regular season in which the team finished inside the top three, in three of its four events.
Carson-Newman defeated ranked No. 21 West Florida by eleven strokes, and No. 18 Lander by 25 strokes.
Finishing in third place for the tournament, Caroline Nemes (Orlando, Fla.) completed her best tournament with C-N. She finished round two with three straight pars to card a 5-over 77. The sophomore was consistent once again in the final round, carding a 4-over 76. She made par on five of her last six holes. Her one birdie, came on her first hole of the day, the 7th hole, a 364-yard par four. She records her first career top five finish at an event.
Also finishing with a career-best tournament effort was Hannah Holland (Sale Creek, Tenn.) She wrapped up round two with a 4-over 76, C-N's second-best score in the middle round. She got off to a quick start in the final round, making five straight pars to start the round. Holland went on to make three birdies in the round and used an even par front nine to finish the tournament with a 3-over 75. The graduate student lowered her score by one stroke, each round of the tournament. Holland finished in a tie for fourth, securing her best finish with C-N and her third top five finish in her career.
Maeve Cummins (Waringstown, Northern Ireland) finished her incredible second round with back-to-back pars to score an even par 72 to lead C-N. The even par 72 score ties for her season low, which she has accomplished two other times this season. The graduate student helped pace C-N in the final round, carding a 2-over 74. She played her final four holes of the day at 2-under par. Cummins made three birdies in the final round. Like Holland, Cummins finished in a tie for fourth place. She finishes inside the top five for the 13th time in her C-N career and second this season.
Ellie Haughton (Lincolnshire, England) made par on her final three holes of round two and carded a 10-over 82. She carried the strong end to round two, with her into the final round. The senior made 13 pars, two birdies, two bogeys and one double bogey in the third and final round to card a 2-over 74. Both birdies came on the front nine, in which she shot a 1-under 35. Haughton's top 20 finish is the 16th of her career, and third this year.
Ida Peterson (Copenhagen, Denmark) completed a stellar second round, going 3-under for her final eight holes of the day. Her second-round score of 6-over 78 was her best round of the tournament. The freshman finished her tournament with a 9-over 81 and in a tie for 37th.
Carson-Newman finished the tournament with the lowest scoring average on the par 4s, at 4.33. The Eagles also finished top three in scoring average on the par 3s and 5s as well. C-N's 159 pars were second most in the field.
Next up for Carson-Newman is the South Atlantic Conference Women's Golf Championships April 2-4. The championships are set to be played at Cobbs Glenn Country Club in Anderson, S.C.
