ANDERSON, S.C. – The youth-laden Anderson women's golf team closed out its unexpectedly abbreviated season by competing against arguably the strongest field in program history, with the Trojans claiming 17th place in mid-March at the 44th Annual Peggy Kirk Bell Memorial Invitational. The 54-hole event featured seven of the top-10 ranked teams in the nation and 12 of the top-25.
Through six tournaments on the year, Freshman Emma Charles paced the Trojans with a 76.62 unadjusted stroke average and posted three top-20 finishes, while firing a season-best 2-under-par 70 in the final round of the PKB Memorial. The Hartsville, S.C., native captured her highest finish of the year by placing third at the AU Invitational and garnering 13th place at the Peggy Kirk Bell Memorial. Sophomore Victoria Hall was just behind with a 77.15 unadjusted stroke average and posted three top-13 finishes, including a fifth-place performance at the AU Invitational. Hall carded a season-low 71 in the second round of the St. Leo Invitational in mid-October.
Junior Anna Freeman claimed individual honors at the AU Invitational and finished close behind Hall with a 77.46 unadjusted stroke average. The Aiken, S.C., native also captured a top-10 finish by claiming eighth place at the St. Leo Invitational and equaled Hall's 13th-place finish two weeks earlier at the Battle at Hilton Head. Another sophomore, Kerington Lamb, claimed a share of third place at the AU Invitational behind an opening round, season-best 2-over-74 and also finished tied for 18th place at the Flagler Fall Slam.
The 2019-20 campaign may have drawn a curtain on one of AU's most accomplished golfers in senior Kate Hill. The native of Clemson, S.C., earned postseason South Atlantic Conference honors in each of her first three collegiate seasons, while capturing Second Team All-South Atlantic Conference honors twice after being named South Atlantic Conference Freshman of the Year in 2017. She was twice named to the SAC All-Tournament Team (2018 & 2019) and as a junior, Hill equaled the fourth-best three-round total in SAC Tournament history and finished in a tie for fifth place at the 2019 SAC Championship.
Hill won the 2018 Anderson University Invitational, while claiming twenty top-10 finishes in her career, including a second-place finish at the 2017 AU Invitational and a third-place finish at the 2018 SAC Championship. She fired a school-record 68 in the second round of the 2018 AU Invitational and followed up her school-record four weeks later with a 69 in the final round of the 2018 Patsy Rendleman Invitational. Hill wrapped her junior season ranked 141st nationally, and paced the Trojans in 12 tournaments during her career. She earned All-Tournament honors at 2017 AU Invitational and at Tusculum's 2017 Agnes McAmis Memorial.
