CLEVELAND, Tenn. – With junior Jessica Rathbone carding the fourth-lowest 36-hole score in program history, the No. 6 Anderson women's golf team overcame a sluggish start and is in third place following the first two rounds of the City with Spirit Fall Classic, Monday.
Lee University is hosting the two-day, 54-hole tournament on a par-72, 5,957-yard layout at the Cleveland Country Club.
"I'm just so disappointed overall today," said Anderson Head Women's Coach Denton Moore. "Jess was the one bright spot today. She was really good for 36 holes and that is why she is leading. She struggled in the opening round at Dallas, but since then she has looked like the All-American she has been the last two years. I will say and concede that the course is playing brutally hard. It's harder than I have ever seen this place, including the last two times we were here for the NCAA South Regionals. With that said, we were just not very good. I didn't do a very good job of coaching - misjudged the wind, misjudged some lies in the rough, and had too aggressive of a game plan for this track. I was simply bad yesterday and today. We also putted very poorly again today. I'm hoping we can find that again tomorrow like last week in Dallas"
The 13-team field includes six teams in the latest Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) Top-25, with an additional three squads that received votes in last week's poll.
Eleventh-ranked Limestone leads the 13-team field by two strokes over the host Flames, who were ranked ninth in the country last Friday. Sixth-ranked Anderson, which was plagued by a half-dozen double bogeys and nearly as many triple bogeys throughout Monday's opening round, overcame the self-inflicted damage and moved up two spots into third place following the second round. The Trojans trail Lee by jut six strokes and the Saints by eight shots.
No. 24 Carson-Newman is three shots further back in fourth place, with 20th-ranked Lander and 17th-ranked Columbus State deadlocked in fifth place.
Montevallo is in seventh place entering Tuesday's first round, while West Georgia and Lincoln Memorial are eighth and ninth, respectively. West Florida, Shorter, North Georgia and Union finished out the field.
Rathbone, who tied her own fourth-best 36-hole score, posted five birdies during Monday's first round and finished the opening 18 holes in third place with a 2-under-par 70, behind co-leaders Supuschaya Srichantamit from Lee and Carson-Newman's Hannah Holland. The Montpelier, Va., native overcame a one-shot deficit with three birdies during the second round and leads Srichantamit by one shot.
Columbus State's Beryl Giletti (75-72=147) and Limestone's Sarah Mardani (75-72=147) are tied for third, six shots off the pace set by Rathbone.
AU freshman Aly Francis heads into Tuesday's final round in a three-way tie for 23rd place, while senior Emma Charles shares 26th place. Grad student Kerington Lamb, who notched an eagle on the par-5, 456-yard 14th hole, is tied for 31st place, with freshman Kennedy Gooding just one shot further back in a seven-way tie for 33rd place, alongside sophomore Zoey Iglesias. The duo of sophomore Kennedy McGaha and freshman Paige Paolucci are tied for 45th place.
"We were definitely much better in the afternoon," added Moore. "We didn't execute a lot of simple shots around the greens. We missed a lot of wedges from the middle of the fairway. It was just a struggle from start to finish. As bad as today was, we still have a shot to come back tomorrow which again speaks to how hard the course was. It got everyone today. I just expect more out of myself, and out of our girls. I believe we will bounce back tomorrow and hopefully make a run towards the top."
The final 18 holes are scheduled to get underway, Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.
Notables
• Cleveland Country Club is where former standout Victoria Hall (as a freshman in 2019) became the first golfer in program history to earn a berth in the NCAA National Championships, which were held at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
• Cleveland Country Club is also where current standout Emma Charles became just the second golfer in school history to make an appearance on the national stage by claiming a spot in the NCAA Division II National Championships at TPC Michigan in Dearborn, Mich.
• Jessica Rathbone's two-round 141 matched the fourth-lowest round in program history.
• Rathbone's first-round 70 matched the 16th-lowest round in program history.
3 Anderson 309 300 609
1 Jessica Rathbone 70 71 141
T23 Aly Francis (I) 77 78 155
T26 Emma Charles 76 80 156
T31 Kerington Lamb (I) 80 77 157
T33 Zoey Iglesias 80 78 158
T33 Kennedy Gooding 83 75 158
T45 Kennedy McGaha 84 76 160
T45 Paige Paolucci (I) 79 81 160
Teams Scores
1 Limestone 306 295 601 +25
2 Lee 301 302 603 +27
3 Anderson 309 300 609 +33
4 Carson-Newman 301 311 612 +36
T5 Lander 308 310 618 +42
T5 Columbus State 313 305 618 +42
7 Montevallo 311 308 619 +43
8 West Georgia 310 312 622 +46
9 Lincoln Memorial 326 305 631 +55
10 West Florida 317 315 632 +56
11 Shorter 315 321 636 +60
12 North Georgia 324 317 641 +65
13 Union 331 322 653 +77
