EUREKA, Mo. – Buoyed by sixteen birdies on the day, including eight over the first seven holes the Anderson women's golf team is tied for second place following opening-round action at the 2023 NCAA Division II Women's Golf National Championships, Tuesday at the par-72, 6,187-yard Fox Run Golf Club.
"I'm very happy with the way we played today," said Anderson Head Coach Denton Moore. "We got off to a decent start, had a shaky middle of the round, and then they finished like absolute champions. KK and Zoey were so consistent today. This course isn't easy, and they did exactly what you are supposed to do out there. They took big numbers out of play and took a few birdies when they were there."
Third-ranked Nova Southeastern, with three players holding the three top spots on the individual leaderboard, is atop the team leaderboard and leads the Trojans and Findlay by eight shots. Dallas Baptist is three strokes further back in fourth, with Lynn and Cal State East Bay sharing fifth place. Indianapolis and West Texas A&M are seventh and eighth, respectively, while Tampa is in the ninth slot.
Limestone is in 10th place, with Nebraska-Kearney and Tiffin tied for 11th place. Cal State San Marcos is in the 13th slot, with Missouri-St. Louis, Grand Valley State, Henderson State, Augustana and Wayne State rounding out the 18-team field.
Nova Southeastern's Olivia Gronborg (68) holds a one-shot lead over teammates Ellen Andersson and Emma Larsen, with the Findlay duo of Jill Schmitmeyer and Gabby Woods sharing fourth place after carding 70s on the day.
AU's Kerington Lamb notched a pair of birdies on both the front and back 9's on her way to an even-par 72 on the day and a share of 11th place, while sophomore Zoey Iglesias carded three birdies on the day and is alongside Lamb in the five-way tie for 11th. Junior Jessica Rathbone opened the day with three birdies over the first four holes, including back-to-back birdies to start the round and finished with six. The Montpelier, Va., native is in a tie for 16th place heading into Wednesday's second round.
Sophomore Kennedy McGaha finished the day with back-to-back birdies and shares 34th place, while freshman Kennedy Gooding is in 78th place.
"Jess was fantastic today," added Moore. "She had six birdies and birdies are few and far in between on this track. K Mac had a huge number on her fifth hole. From there she did exactly what All-Americans are supposed to do. She flushed it and played incredible from there out. KG was solid today. She had some great stretches of golf. We will get the big numbers eliminated tomorrow. I love our position after one day, but we have a long way to go. We need another round like that tomorrow to continue to put some separation between us and that magical 8 number to get into match play. I'm very excited to get back out there with the girls tomorrow and go back to work! Go Trojans!"
The Championships are being hosted by the University of Missouri – St. Louis and consist of both team and individual competition conducted concurrently. Eighteen (18) teams and eight (8) individuals are competing for team and individual championships over 54 holes and championship head-to-head medal play format.
Following 54 holes of stroke play, an individual champion will be declared along with finishers 2-10 on Thursday.
The top eight teams after 54 holes of play will then be placed into a bracket and seeded based on 54-hole scores, with the team quarterfinal and semifinal rounds on Friday and the finals occurring on Saturday.
Tuesday's second round is slated to get underway at 9 a.m. (eastern) with the Trojans teeing off at 1:10 p.m.
T2 Anderson 292
T11 Zoey Iglesias 72
T11 Kerington Lamb 72
T16 Jessica Rathbone 73
T34 Kennedy McGaha 75
78 Kennedy Gooding 79
1 Team Scores To Par
1 Nova Southeastern 284 -4
T2 Findlay 292 +4
T2 Anderson 292 +4
4 DBU 295 +7
T5 Cal State East Bay 297 +9
T5 Lynn 297 +9
7 UIndy 299 +11
8 West Texas A&M 300 +12
9 Tampa 301 +13
10 Limestone 302 +14
T11 Nebraska–Kearney 303 +15
T11 Tiffin 303 +15
13 Cal State San Marcos 305 +17
14 Missouri - St. Louis 306 +18
15 Grand Valley State 307 +19
16 Henderson State 308 +20
17 Augustana 309 +21
18 Wayne State 314 +26
NOTABLES
• Lamb's first-round 72 matched her fifth-lowest round out of 28 rounds this year.
• Iglesias' opening-round 72 matched her fourth-lowest round out of 31 rounds this year.
• Fourteen of the 18 teams competing in Eureka are ranked in Golfstat's Top-30
• Twenty-two of the top-30 golfers in the nation, including six of the top-10, are in Eureka, including Lynn's Maria Hoyos (No. 1) and Sara Ericsson (No. 2), along with Nova Southeastern's Olivia Gronborg (No. 4) and Ellen Andersson (No. 10). Dallas Baptist's Olivia Mitchell (No. 7), Julia Garcia (No. 12) and Jordan Karrh (No. 13) will also be competing, alongside Eckerd's Amelie Alcantara (No. 9) and UMSL's Tove Brunell (No. 11).
• AU is making its fourth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and second straight appearance as a team on the national stage.
• The Trojans have not finished lower than sixth in a tournament this year.
• Current Trojans own or share the top-12 three-round scores on record.
• During the 2022-23 campaign, the team has posted or equaled seven of the lowest 11 three-round scores in program history, including a school-record 859 at the Saint Leo Invitational in mid-October, with the second-round 275 marking a single-round school record. This squad has posted the two lowest single-round scores and has set or matched eight of the nine lowest 18-hole scores in program history
• Victoria Hall competed as an individual at the 2019 National Championships.
• Emma Charles competed as an individual at the 2021 National Championships.
• Findlay is the reigning national champion.
• Dallas Baptist claimed the 2021 title.
• Lynn won back-to-back championships (2013 & 2014).
• Indianapolis is seeking its third title in eight years.
