Champions! Carson-Newman Women’s Golf finishes first in Columbus with Miller taking medalist honors
Carson-Newman bested the field by nine strokes in round one and tied with West Florida in the final 18 holes to share the lead at the final regular season event of the season.
COLUMBUS, Ga. – Carson-Newman bested the field by nine strokes in round one and tied with West Florida in the final 18 holes to share the lead at the final regular season event of the season.
"They're really just held their own with West Florida the whole time. They're a big competitor that we see a lot, and the girls knew that we're kind of neck and neck with them, so it was good for them," said head coach Alyssa Montgomery. "They didn't let it get in their heads, and they just toughed out the whole way through."
This was the Eagles' first team win at a tournament since 2023, when they won the Jerry Surratt Memorial. C-N has had one other individual medalist this season in Emery Fisher at the Savannah Lakes Invite. The women's highest finish this season before this event was 3rd place in the fall.
The event was headlined by the freshman, Madison Miller, who won thanks to her best three-round stretch of her collegiate career. She shot a three-day split of 76-72-76, eclipsing her previous 54-hole low by 11 strokes. Her round of 72 beat her previous 18-hole low by three strokes.
"I was looking a little bit throughout the day, but once we were getting towards the end, I just stopped looking, and I just had to think about playing good for myself not really worrying about what anyone else is doing, and I couldn't control that," said Miller "I just had confidence in myself, especially after playing good the first day. I just remained calm and knew I could play well, just stayed steady."
Madison Miller had a challenging start to the day with a double at the first, but birdied the par-four 4th, accompanied by six pars on the front, to go out at 38 (+2). She sandwiched a bogey at the 11th between two pars, and went on to birdie the par-four 15th. She made back-to-back bogeys at the 16th and 17th and finalized her round with a par on 18.
"I think she was calmer than me. There at the end, I stopped looking at my phone because my heart started racing," said Montgomery with a laugh. "I was just walking with her, talking. She had it more under control, and I don't think she cared whether I was with her or not, so very proud of how she handled the pressure all the way through from start to finish."
Miller shot 76 (+4) in her final round to tie for the lead at the tournament. With no playoff, she split the tournament title with West Florida's Millie Thompson.
Emery Fisher made two bogeys in her first five holes of the season but birdied the par-five 9th hole. She wrote her third bogey of the day down on the 10th and capitalized on the 469-yard par-five 14th. She made five pars to finish out the round for a final round 76 (+4). She was 4th overall
Anaelle Picot was consistent, with five pars to begin the round before bogeying the par-three 8th. She was the third Eagle to bogey the 10th, and then made scores over par from 12-14. Picot then made four straight pars before her final birdie of the day on the first. The graduate student finished with a 77 (+5) in the final round and placed 13th. This was her 6th top-15 finish of the year.
Grace Lambert made four pars through her first five holes, but made back-to-back bogeys on the 10th and 11th holes. She bounced back with a birdie at the 12th and seven pars to follow. She bogeyed the 2nd and 3rd but finished her day with a birdie on the 4th for a final round 75 (+3). That was five strokes better than her best round yesterday for a 31st-place finish.
Rylee Tucker made three pars to start the day, but tripled the 7th. She bounced back with birdies on both par threes on the back nine and tacked on a helping score at the 18th. She made two more pars to shoot 77 (+5) in the final round and was 15th in the field.
Parker Miller was decent individually for C-N with three birdies throughout the final round. She made eight scores above par and six pars to shoot 83 (+11) in the final round. Miller was 48th overall.
With this being the final regular season event of the season, the Eagles roll into the SAC tournament with confidence in their pocket.
"I think it was good going into conference for them to have a win like that under their belts against a good team they're right there with, so hopefully that gives them confidence going into conference now," said Montgomery.
The 2026 Women's Golf SAC Championships begin on April 12th and extend to April 14th at the Preserve at Verdae in Greenville, S.C. In what will be a new format in 2026, the field will play 36 holes on Sunday and 18 holes on Monday. Following a cut to the top four teams, the remaining players will play match play (#1 vs #4, #2 vs #3) on Tuesday. The remaining two teams will play another round of match play to decide the conference champion.
For updates, follow @CN_Eagles on X and Instagram, or Carson-Newman Athletics on Facebook. Live scoring will be available on the Clippd Scoreboard website, and full coverage is also available at cneagles.com.
