March 3, 2020

Eagles land in seventh at Low Country Invitational

BLUFFTON, S.C. – For a second-straight round, Carson-Newman carded a 315 to take a seventh-place finish with a 62-over showing at the Low Country Invitational on Tuesday.

"For a brand-new tournament, tough course, tough conditions, we did OK, but we could have" Carson-Newman coach Suzanne Strudwick said. "We ended up slipping down when we wanted to move up. At least now we know what we have to do in the last three events and what we need to work on. Mostly, it is all about mental toughness."

The Eagles shot for birdie or better seven times in the round, including an eagle from freshman Ellie Haughton (Lincolnshire, England) on the par-5 17^th. She was the only player in the entire field to card an eagle in the tournament. Each player scored at least one double-bogey in the round. Strudwick's team finished the event with a 630 total.

Rachel Watts (Newport, Tenn.) led C-N for a second-consecutive round despite shooting six shots higher than she did in the opening round. She moved 11 spots down into a tie for 18^th at 12-over. She opened her day with a pair of birdies spaced between three bogeys to set at one-over. Her score expanded with six holes over par, including four-straight in the final stretch that ended with back-to-back double bogeys.

The senior tied for the second-best par-3 scoring clip in the event with a one-over average of 3.10 Her five birdies also tied for the third-most on the week.

One stroke behind Watts after the final round was Maeve Cummins (Waringstown, Northern Ireland), tied for 22^nd at 13-over. She went six-over in the final round with a 77. After being the only Eagle without a double bogey on her scorecard after the first round, she found two in the second, both on par-5 holes. Her three bogeys in the final stretch came exclusively on par-4s.

Haughton made a three-shot improvement on Tuesday from her 81 on Monday, jumping five spots up the leaderboard to tie for 33^rd. The freshman was 17-over in the event after playing three holes for birdie or better. Those attempts were overshadowed by a trio of double-bogeys in the round.

Tied for 43^rd at the end of the tournament were Jayla Sims (Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.) and Matilda Frövenholt (Öjersjö, Sweden), both sitting at 21-over.

Sims was one-shot better by the time she entered the clubhouse on Tuesday compared to Monday despite having the highest round score among her teammates in the round. She was the only Eagle without a birdie on the day. She was on par for 10 holes throughout the day, splitting five-over showings in the front and back nine.

Individual Olivia Williams (Cleveland, Tenn.) made the largest improvement through the second round, shooting 10 shots lower than her opening round with a 78 on Tuesday. Her 24-over 166 total moved her 10 spots up, into a tie for 57^th.

Eastern Michigan swept the team and individual titles with a 17-over 585. Host Wingate finished in second, 15 shots behind the lead with a 600 while back-to-back event champion Western Michigan finished third with a 603.

The top three players in the field all hailed from Eastern Michigan with Preaw Sripatrprasite winning the event with a two-over 144. Julia Stevenson was second at three-over and Maria Connelly in third at five-over.

A week away from tournament play sets Carson-Newman up for back-to-back weeks of competition, starting with the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate. That three-day event begins on March 15 at the Sevierville Golf Club in Sevierville, Tenn.

Carson-Newman	315	315	630	+62	7^th
Rachel Watts	74	80	154	+12	T-18^th
Maeve Cummins	78	77	155	+13	T-22^nd
Ellie Haughton	81	78	159	+17	T-33^rd
Jayla Sims	82	81	163	+21	T-43^rd
Matilda Frövenholt	83	80	163	+21	T-43^rd
Olivia Williams*	88	78	166	+24	T-57^th