DESTIN, FLA. – The UT Tyler women's golf team matched their lowest round of the year and jumped up five spots on the team leaderboard following a 293 in round two of the Emerald Coast Classic on Monday morning.
All four of the counting scores for the Patriots came in at less than 75 in round two at Sandestin-Baytowne Golf Club as UT Tyler was just three strokes shy of the best team score of the day. The 293 matches the previous best round of the 2021-22 season, previously set in the final round of the West Texas A&M Fall Invitational back on Oct. 5
th in Amarillo, Texas.
The stellar round after a 325 in round one on Sunday afternoon jumped the Patriots ahead of a pair of ranked teams in no. 32 Central Oklahoma and no. 40 North Georgia, and slid UT Tyler into ninth place with a 618 (325-293) total after two rounds of play. The Patriots were one of six teams to post a team score better than 295 on Monday, and will look to continue their ascent up the team leaderboard in tomorrow's third and final round.
Senior
Zoe Mayfield shot an even-par 71 in round number two, while classmate
Raelynn Hardgrave, sophomore
Julia Kerrigan and junior
Kaitlyn Charles all posted scores of 74 to provide the vast improvement for head coach
Grant Spencer's team in the second round. Freshman
Brooke Wagner also played a quality round of golf on Monday, carding a 76 to round out the Patriot competitors for the day.
Nova Southeastern maintained their first-place positioning after play completed for the day, posting their second straight team score of 290 to lead the field by nine strokes with a 580. Lee University's Alex Naumovski shot the round of the tournament thus far, posting a five-under 66 to hold the individual lead heading into the final round at three-under par 139 (73-66).
All five Patriots made a move up the individual leaderboard on Monday, including a 33-place improvement by Mayfield, who sits in a tie for 41
st place at 155 (84-71) after two rounds. Hardgrave is the highest placed Patriot on the leaderboard in a tie for 35
th place with a 153 (79-74).
UT Tyler had one score of double bogey or worse for the day, and made 12 birdies as a team, seven of which came from the Hardgrave-Mayfield tandem.
Wagner sits in a tie with Mayfield in 41
st place after rounds of 79-76 for a 155 total, while the rounds of 74 for Charles and Kerrigan also vaulted each of their positionings up the leaderboard as well. Charles sits in a tie for 55
th with a 157 (83-74) and Kerrigan in a tie for 64
th with a 159 (85-74).
UT Tyler will look for much of the same in Tuesday's final round, as they sit six strokes back of no. 44 Arkansas-Fort Smith. Play for that round is scheduled for an 8 a.m. shotgun start.
