ANDERSON, S.C. – After the first round of the South Atlantic Conference Championships, Carson-Newman is in fourth place after putting together its best opening round performance at the SAC Championships.
Carson-Newman's 304 team score in the opening round is the Eagles best first round performance at the SAC Championships in program history. The previous best opening round score came in last year's opening round, when C-N had a 306-team score.
"Maeve (Cummins) played really well today," Carson-Newman interim head coach Cathy Duggan said. "The course greens were challenging today and I think we can catch a couple teams tomorrow."
The Eagles hold a two-shot advantage on fifth place teams Newberry and Lincoln Memorial. C-N is just three shots back of third place and four back of second place.
Maeve Cummins (Waringston, Northern Ireland) was stellar on day 1 of the SAC Championships, pacing C-N with a 1-under 71 performance. Cummins' even par front nine effort consisted of five pars, two birdies and two bogeys. The graduate student was phenomenal down the stretch of her round. She made three consecutive birdies on holes 15,16,17 to finish her final four holes of the day at 3-under par. The trio of birdies made up for her three bogeys earlier on the back nine. Cummins led C-N with six birdies in her opening round.
Hannah Holland (Sale Creek, Tenn.) started her championship with a 4-over 76 effort in round one. She started the day with four bogeys on her first five holes of the day. The graduate student finished the front nine strong by recording birdies on two of her final four holes to secure a 2-over 38 front nine score. Holland got out to a great start to begin the back nine, making par on her first four holes. She made her third birdie on the 17th hole of the day.
Playing in her second SAC Championship, Caroline Nemes (Orlando, Fla.) carded an opening round 6-over 78. Nemes began the tournament with a front nine score of 2-over 38. She made her one birdie on the opening nine, on the par 4 6th hole. Her second birdie of the day came on the par 5 15th hole. The sophomore went 4-over par on the back nine.
Ellie Haughton (Lincolnshire, England) scored a 7-over 79 in the opening round. Haughton started the day making par on three of her first four holes of the day. She birded the 6th hole and finished the front with a 3-over 39. Haughton played very well on the back nine, making par on seven of her first eight holes, but made a triple bogey on the 18th hole to give a 4-over 40 back nine effort.
Making her SAC Championship debut, Ida Peterson (Copenhagen, Denmark) was consistent in round one carding a 7-over 79. The freshman made two birdies in the opening nine holes but finished the front at 4-over par. Like Haughton, Peterson made four straight pars to begin the back nine. She made four bogeys and her final birdie of the day in the five remaining holes of the day to finish at 3-over par on the back nine.
Carson-Newman played the par 5s at 4-under par on day 1, second best in the field. C-N's 15 made birdies were second most in the field as well.
Second round action gets underway tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. Live scoring is available at this link:
