Sept. 16, 2013
WAYNESVILLE, N.C. -- After Samford's tournament record 281 through 18 holes, the WKU women's golf squad carded a 298 team score on Monday at the Great Smokes Intercollegiate to finish the day in seventh place.
"There was a lot of good golf being playing today," said head coach Ron Burchett. "Overall, 19 golfers hit par or better on the day and the round was really competitive. As a team, we hit well and just need to continue to improve."
Ellinor Haag, fresh off her All-Tournament performance last week at the Drake Creek Invitational, turned in a team-low of 69 on the par-72, 5,932-yard Waynesville Inn, Golf Resort and Spa and finished the day alone in fifth place.
Michaela Bordeianu's 33 through the front nine was a team-low, and her even par day at 72 was good enough to put her in a tie for 12th place overall. McKenzie Smith's four-over 76 has the sophomore tied for 30th place.
Rounding out the team's final two golfers, freshman Daniela Galassi carded a nine-over 81 and finished the day in a tie for 51st. April Butler finished one stroke above Galassi, at 82, and in 60th place.
Mallory Vaughn also competed as an individual in the event and carded a seven-over 79 on the day, placing her in a tied for 43rd overall.
Bailey Gray of Samford and Mercer's Macy McRaney lead the 67-golfer field, tied atop the leader board with matching scores of five-under par, 67 - a mark which is tied with four others for the fifth-lowest 18-hole score in tournament history. Gray carded five birdies on her opening round while McRaney finished with four birdies and overcame one bogey with an eagle on the par-5, 430-yard 18th.
Behind Samford (281) and Western Carolina (283), Mercer, is third after the opening round after the Bears fired a team 285. Methodist sits in fourth place at 292, two strokes ahead of the two-way tie for fifth between Eastern Kentucky and Appalachian State at 294.
As the participants did a season ago, many of the teams on Monday wore their varying degrees of pink attire and pink ribbons as a show of solidarity in support of raising breast cancer awareness. In addition, several teams also wore teal ribbons as a sign of support for Auburn University head women's golf coach, Kim Evans, in her fight with ovarian cancer.
Play concludes on Tuesday with a shotgun start set for 9:00 am.
