5th place finish at SAC Women’s Golf Tournament keeps Eagles out of the final day of match play
C-N dug themselves a hole in the first two days and was out of control of their own destiny, playing better in the final round but not enough to lift them over Anderson and Catawba.
VIDEO: Alyssa Montgomery Interview
VIDEO: Grace Lambert Interview
GREENEVILLE, S.C. – C-N dug themselves a hole in the first two days and was out of control of their own destiny, playing better in the final round but not enough to lift them over Anderson and Catawba.
It was going to be a tall task to eek into the top four; the Eagles would have had to make up 15 shots after day one to get into the final day over the 4th place Catawba.
"Definitely a lot of lessons learned this week. We were really expecting to be in that final four, get to do a little metal match play tomorrow. But, we still had some good scores. Some people had one round here or there and a couple good holes, " said head coach Alyssa Montgomery. "Hopefully our season's not over."
The Eagles made just seven birdies throughout the day to make up strokes. Otherwise, it was a fight to place shots well off the tee capitalize on putts.
Anaelle Picot played her best round of the tournament in the final 18. The graduate student didn't let two opening bogeys bother her, making birdie on the par-four 7th and another on the par-four 10th. She bogeyed the 12th, but brought her score back to one-under par on the par-four 16th with another birdie. Unfortunately, she ended her day with a double on the 18th to shoot 75 (+3). She was +14 over the 54-holes and 17th in the 54-woman field.
Grace Lambert was also in the mid-70's after she carded seven pars on the front nine with two bogeys. She did double the 10th and bogey the 11th, but rallied with a birdie at the 13th. She parred out for a final round 76 (+4). She was +13 over the event and was C-N's best finisher at 15th overall.
"I thought it was quite a hard course, so off the tee, you definitely needed to hit straight, and I think I managed to do that well, keep it in play, and then I was just trying to hit the middle of the greens and two-putt," said Lambert. "We improved as a team on this final day. So, we tried our best and we'll be back next year to try again."
Emery Fisher made five straight pars to start the day before a birdie at the 6th brought her to one-under. She made five pars on the back nine coupled with a birdie at the par-three 15th, but doubled the 17th and made back-to-back bogeys on the 13th and 14th. She ended the tournament with a 77 (+5). She was +20 over the three rounds and 25th in the standings.
Madison Miller kept the front nine relatively clean with just two bogeys. All four Eagles that scored for the team in the final round shot 38 (+2) on the front nine. She bogeyed 10 and 11, doubled 13, and made birdie on the 17th with a stellar second shot to five feet. The freshman finalized her round at 78 (+6). She was +16 throughout the tournament 20th in the rankings.
"All our freshmen have been great this year. Grace started out super strong season. She wavered a little bit in the middle, so I was happy to see her kind of come back here at the end," said Montgomery.
Rylee Tucker made ten pars throughout the day but couldn't find a birdie to cancel out the scores over par. She ended with a final round 84 (+12) and was +24 through 54 holes. She ended up 28th in the rankings.
The team finished at +57 overall after an 18-over final round. The fifth-place finish was two rankings better than the previous season.
Wingate, LMU, Anderson, and Catawba will move into the day of the tournament for the medal match-play segment.
C-N will await the committee's decision on whether or not they will go to the Southeast Regional. On April 10th, C-N was 19th in the regional standings, just outside of the 18 teams that go to the championship. Picot and Fisher will have the chance to go as individuals if the team does not make it. For updates, follow @CN_Eagles on X and Instagram, or Carson-Newman Athletics on Facebook. Full coverage is also available at cneagles.com
