Women's Golf | 3/2/2019 10:01:00 PM
PINE MOUNTAIN, Ga. Twentieth-ranked Methodist University stared down 10 other top-30 teams (Golfstat.com) Saturday and beat back all comers in earning team medalist honors at the Callaway Garden's Women's Collegiate golf classic.
The Monarchs (308, 16-over par) earned a seven-stroke victory over No. 8 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (315, +23) in the rain-shortened tournament.
Originally scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the 5,826-yard, par-73 Mountain View Course at Callaway, weather got in the way Friday and forced a cancellation of the classic's first round.
THE ESSENTIALS
Tournament: Callaway Gardens Women's Collegiate
Location: Mountain View Course, Callaway Garden's; Pine Mountain, Ga.
Top-3 teams: 1st place – Methodist (308, +16), 2nd – Pomona-Pitzer (315, +23), 3rd – Christopher Newport University (323, +31)
Top-3 individuals: Tie-1st – Bailey Plourde, Centre College (36-37—75; +2), Tie-1st – Beth Ann Townsend, Washington & Lee College (38-37—75, +2), Tie-3rd –
Jillian Drinkard, Methodist (36-40—76, +3), Sarah Lyman, Carthage College (39-37—76, +3)
Total teams participating: 15
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Methodist combined to shoot just six-over par over the first nine holes, breaking in front as it and several other teams made the turn onto the back nine.
- The Monarchs played steady across the final nine holes with a nine-over total to keep Pomona, CNU and host Berry College (325, +33) at arm's length.
- At one point during play on the back nine, Methodist owned a 10-shot lead over the chasers.
- Drinkard wasn't the only Monarch to post a top-five finish as she was joined in that elite group by teammates Paige Church (37-40—77, +4) and Alexandra Williams (40-37—77, +4) who tied for fifth place.
- Also cracking the top 10 was Morgan Bowen (38-40—78, +5), and placing within the top 30 of the 88 golfers was teammate Peyton Durham (28th; 39-43—82, +9).
- Methodist's "B" team (347, +55) placed 13th of the 15 teams at the tournament.
NUMBERS
- No. 20 Methodist and No. 8 Pomona topped the team leaderboard, followed by No. 35 CNU and No. 14 Berry.
- Other top-30 ranked squads at the tournament: fifth-place W&L (No. 22), seventh-place Sewanee-University of the South (28), eighth-place Oglethorpe University (24), 11th-place Wittenberg University (29), 12th-place Birmingham-Southern (26) and 14th-place Transylvania University (25).
- Methodist "B" team scores:
NEXT UP
Methodist heads to Jekyll Island, Georgia, on March 15-17 for the Women's Collegiate Invitational, which will host several top-10 team in a field usually comprised of mostly top-25 teams in the Golfstat rankings.
