GREENWOOD, S.C. – With play suspended and less than half of the teams completing Monday's second round, the Anderson women's golf team is in first place at Lander's Lady Bearcat Invitational.
Lander is hosting the two-day, 54-hole tourney, which includes four top-20 teams, at the Greenwood Country Club on a par 72, 5,976 yard layout.
"The girls were extremely good today," said Anderson Head Women's Coach Denton Moore. "It was definitely a complete team effort as well. I saw some very tired faces out there today that really did a great job grinding this day out. I know the girls are running on fumes from being gone an extra day last week to Kentucky. We had to get back and get right back after it, with very little time off. Hopefully we can run on adrenaline tomorrow, and get the job done, and then have a short drive home to the beds."
The fifth-ranked Trojans were one of eight teams to finish both rounds and lead 12th-ranked Lee by 13 strokes heading into Tuesday's action. Columbus State is five strokes further back in third place, while North Georgia holds the fourth spot. No. 16 Wingate and No. 19 Lander are fifth and sixth, respectively, with West Georgia in the seventh slot. Converse and Coastal Georgia are eighth and ninth, while Belmont Abbey is 10th.
Lander (B), USC Beaufort, Tusculum, Lenoir-Rhyne, King, Newberry, Coker, Erskine, Young Harris and North Greenville comprised the second half of the large 20-team field.
Grad student Kerington Lamb offset a pair of bogeys with four birdies on the day and holds a one-shot lead over Lee's Supuschaya Srichantamit and teammate Jessica Rathbone, with USC Beaufort's Ashleigh Mead also tied for second with two holes left to complete on her scorecard. Wingate's Hailey McLaughlin and AU sophomore Zoey Iglesias are two strokes further back and share fifth place.
Freshman Paige Paolucci is tied for seventh, while classmate Kennedy Gooding is in a six-way tie for 19th and sophomore Kennedy McGaha shares 32nd place.
"Greenwood CC is just not an easy course," added Moore. "It is a course that I stressed to the girls yesterday during the practice round to not make big numbers and go into damage control mode when you get in trouble. Make pars, pars, and more pars, and take the birdies when they come. They did a phenomenal job today of that. They shot +1 together for 36 holes, and it's why we have the lead. All 5 were huge at different times. Kerington, Jess, and Zoey were extremely steady both rounds. Kennedy McGaha was huge in the first round and Kennedy Gooding was huge in the second round. Paige Paolucci was playing as an individual and played extremely well. She continues to be extremely steady. We have a chance to win this event tomorrow, and I believe the girls will do it. We just have to stay steady like we were today. I am so proud of that effort today. It was another gutsy day, from some very tired and worn down players. Go Trojans!"
The final round of the Trojans' regular season is slated to get underway, Tuesday morning. The teams that didn't finish both rounds on Monday will start at 8 a.m. and the third round will begin at approximately 9 a.m.
Notables
• AU's first-round 288 matched the eighth-lowest round in program history.
• The Trojans' second-round 289 matched the 12th-best round in program history.
• AU's two-round 577 equaled the seventh-lowest two-round score in school history.
• Lamb's two-round 142 matched the eighth-best score in program history.
