Western Carolina Leads Great Smokies Intercollegiate
ULM's Jennifer Park leads WCU freshman Sofie Kvarnstrom by a stroke
Waynesville, N.C. - Paced by freshman Sofie Kvarnstrom's career-best round of three-under 69 on Monday, Western Carolina is in the clubhouse with a pair of golfers inside the top five to lead the 23-team field after 18 holes at the 13th annual Great Smokies Intercollegiate being played at the par-72, 5,932-yard Waynesville Inn, Golf Resort and Spa.
Monday's opening round of the Great Smokies Intercollegiate seemed more like a preview of coming attractions for women's golf over the next four years as four of the top five individuals in the field after 18 holes are freshmen.
Univ. of Louisiana-Monroe rookie Jennifer Park broke her school's individual single-round scoring record with a four-under, 68, to pace the 124-golfer field by a stroke over WCU's Kvarnstrom. UNCG's Fanny Cnops and Jacksonville's Jessica Welch - both freshmen - are tied with Catamount senior Blaire Minter for third place after shooting two-under 70 to round out the top five.
Defending individual medalist - Jamie Ritter from UAB - is amidst a group of 10 tied for 13th overall at one-over, 73.
Minter - the lone upper classman in the individual top five after the first round - is one-stroke in arrears of Kvarnstrom in the three-way tie for third after matching her career-low round of 70 as Western Carolina hold a slim, one-stroke advantage over ULM in second place. Posting a school-record round, Eastern Kentucky is tied with Jacksonville for third at 292 with UNC Greensboro and South Carolina State both tied for fifth at 294 to round out the top five teams.
Other notables include USC Upstate which set a school-record low round of 297 in eighth place and SoCon-rival Appalachian State in a three-way tie for 12th. Two-time Great Smokies Intercollegiate team champion, Tennessee Tech, stands in a two-way tie for 17th.
All told, a combined seven teams are within five strokes of the tournament team lead entering the final round which gets under way with a shotgun start at 9:00 am on Tuesday morning.
Teams were greeted with fall-like temperatures and a low cloud ceiling on Monday morning which gave way to mostly sunny skies and seasonably warm temperatures by the afternoon. Competitors dodged the forecasted 30-percent chance of showers all day on Monday, and will hope for more of the same good luck to avoid the 50-percent chance of rain predicted for Tuesday in Western North Carolina.
For WCU, Minter posted par on 15 of the 18 holes on Monday to lead all competitors, while also carding an Eagle for the Catamounts during opening round play. Kvarnstrom and senior Rachel Nelson recorded par on 13 holes through the opening round for WCU. Nelson carded two-over 74 on Monday to stand tied with 16 others for 23rd place in the individual standings.
Rounding out WCU's scoring were freshman Katy Kile, tied for 58th at five-over 77 in her first-ever collegiate event, and junior transfer Michelle Bello tied for 90th with an opening-round 80.
Playing unattached as individuals, freshman Maria Kjelldorff posted an opening round score of 78 to stand tied for 74th overall in her first collegiate event , while senior Christina Amoriello shot a career-best 81 to be tied for 103rd overall after the first round.
Mocs Tied for 13th after Round One at Golfweek Conference Challenge
Sophomore Marion Duvernay used an eagle, birdie and 14 pars to post an even-par 72
WOLCOTT, Colo. --- Chattanooga Mocs sophomore Marion Duvernay (Publier, France) started the 2011-12 season much like her first career round last semester with an even-par 72 in the first round of the Golfweek Conference Challenge. Duvernay led Chattanooga into a tie for 13th on the Fazio Course at Red Sky Golf Club.
Duvernay had an eagle, one birdie and 14 pars balanced by a bogey and double bogey for her level par round. Her double bogey on 14 was her lone blemish in the opening nine holes. She was still two over when she birdied three to move to plus one.
Her eagle on the par five fifth moved Duvernay to one under before a bogey on seven rounded out her scoring. She is tied for sixth, three shots behind the trio in first. Natalie Gleadall (Ole Miss), Kaitlin Higginbotham (Coastal Carolina) and Grace Na (Pepperdine) paced the field at three under, 69.
UTC shot 305, 17-over par, for the day. The Mocs are one stroke behind Georgia State, Kennesaw State at UTSA in 10th at 304. UC Davis leads at six over, 294, followed by Coastal Carolina and Oregon in second at 297.
Senior Maria Juliana Loza (Bucaramanga, Colombia) and sophomore Jordan Britt (Chattanooga, Tenn.) are tied for 39th with twin 77s, five over. Freshman Mette Kryger (Nivaa, Denmark) carded a 79 (+7), while fellow freshman Michaela Gasplmayr (Ebenfurth, Austria) had the drop score of 81 (+9).
Just six shots separate Chattanooga in 13th and Denver in fourth. UTC dropped 17 shots with eight others (scores higher than bogey).
Gasplmayr leads the Mocs off the 10th hole at 12:45 p.m., eastern time Tuesday. She'll be followed by Kryger (12:54), Britt (1:03), Loza (1:12) and Duvernay (1:21). Chattanooga is paired with TCU and Tulsa.
Spartans fifth after one round at Great Smokies Intercollegiate
WAYNESVILLE, N.C.-UNCG women's golf team fired an opening-round 294 and is tied for fifth at the Great Smokies Intercollegiate, which began Monday at Waynesville Inn Golf Resort & Spa.
The Spartans are tied with South Carolina State, four strokes behind leader and host Western Carolina (290). Louisiana-Monroe (291) is second in the team standings, followed by Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville, both tied at 292. A total of 23 teams are participating in the tournament.
UNCG freshman Fanny Cnops is tied for third after opening play with a 2-under par 70. She is two strokes behind ULM's Jennifer Park (68).
Each member of the Spartans enjoyed a solid round on Monday. Berglind Bjornsdottir and Courtney Taylor are tied for 23rd after shooting 2-over par 74.
Begona Sarabia is tied for 47th with a 76, and Ana Lucia Martinez is tied for 74th at 78.
The second and final round is scheduled for a 9:00 a.m. shotgun start on Tuesday.
T 5 UNCG 294
T 3 Fanny Cnops 35- 35 70
T 23 Courtney Taylor 38- 36 74
T 23 Berglind Bjornsdotir 35- 39 74
T 47 Begona Sarabia 38- 38 76
T 74 Ana Lucia Martinez 37- 41 78
Paladins Tied For 10th At Louisville's Wild Eggs Cardinal Cup
Simpsonville, Ky. -- The Furman women's golf team carded an opening round 313 on Monday in the Wild Eggs Cardinal Cup at the University of Louisville's Cardinal Club Golf Course in Simpsonville, Ky.
The tournament was originally scheduled to include two rounds on Monday, but inclement weather forced Monday's action to be shortened to 18 holes and the tournament to 36 holes. Final round action is scheduled for Tuesday morning.
Furman started quickly and climbed into the lead at three-under par at one point on the front nine before fading to 25-over on the day. Junior Laura Wearn (+5) led the Paladins with a first round 77, but shot five-over on the back nine after finishing the front side with back-to-back birdies. Freshman Daffodil Sanchez (+6) birdied three of her first five holes, but played her final four holes at six-over, including a triple bogey at No. 16.
North Carolina State (+8) forged a four-stroke lead on Monday with an opening round 296. The Wolfpack lead second place East Carolina (+12) with Penn State (+17) and Missouri (+17) tied for third place.
Amanda Baker of North Carolina State, AnnaKarin Ljungstrom of Louisville and Fanny Wolte of East Carolina are tied for the lead at even par entering Tuesday's final round.
Two Rank in Top 10 at Great Smokies
WAYNESVILLE, N.C. - Through 18 holes, Appalachian State University women's golfers Rumbidzai Masamvu (Harare, Zimbabwe/Dominican Convent) and Yue Xu (Beijing, China/Huijia Private School) stand tied for seventh place at the Great Smokies Intercollegiate after each carded an even-par 72 on Monday. The Mountaineers rank 12th as a team at the event's midway point with a 303 (+15).
The pair of juniors was followed by Lauren Smith (Salisbury, N.C./UNCG), who ranks 58th at 77 (+5) heading into Tuesday's final round on the 5,932-yard par-72 Waynesville Inn course.
Mimi Burke (Mooresville, N.C./Cannon School) stands in 109th place with an 82 (+10) and freshman Elena Thomas (Waxahachie, Texas/Waxahachie) rounded out the Apps with an 87 (+15) to tie in 120th place.
Host Western Carolina took the lead on Monday with a 290 (+2), one stroke ahead of Louisiana-Monroe. ULM's Jennifer Park fired a 68 (-4) to lead all individuals, one stroke ahead of WCU's Sofie Kvarnstrom.
From the Southern Conference, UNCG is tied in fifth place at 294 (+6) and The Citadel finds itself in a three-way tie for 21st place at 317 (+29).
Masamvu and Smith's rounds were season lows. ASU's 303 ties for the 10th-lowest round in program history.
Tuesday's final round begins with a shotgun start on Tuesday at 9 a.m.
Pellegrini Fires an Opening Round 74 to Lead All Bulldogs
Waynesville, N.C. - Sophomore Erica Pellegrini shot an opening round 74 and is tied for 23rd place in the 13th-annual Great Smokies Intercollegiate at the Waynesville Inn Golf Resort in Waynesville, N.C. The Citadel Golf team currently stands tied for 21st in the tournament with a team score of 317 (+29).
Pellegrini reached her two-over par score after shooting a 36 on the front nine, followed by a 38 on the back nine. Also competing for the Bulldogs is senior Alanna-Jean Keith, who fired a first round 80 to place herself in a tie for 47th. Three remaining Citadel competitors carded opening round scores in the 80's, including Bree Bumgartner (81), Kellie Anderson (82) and Devin Lowe (87).
The tournament will conclude on Tuesday, Sept. 20, with a 9 a.m shotgun start.