Women's Golf | 5/15/2019 8:33:00 PM
HOUSTON Beginning the day in a tie for second place, Methodist's women's golf team never strayed far from that position Wednesday during Day 2 of the NCAA 2019 Division III Women's Golf Championship at Bay Oaks Country Club.
The Monarchs (307-307—614, 38-over-par) matched their score from Tuesday and then matched their placement, ending the afternoon in sole possession of second place, one stroke behind New York University.
Paige Church (76-75—151, +7) made a leap up the leaderboard, climbing seven spots into a ninth-place tie to lead Methodist on the individual leaderboard.
THE ESSENTIALS
Event: NCAA 2019 Division III Women's Golf Championship
Participants: 25 teams, and 6 individuals; 131 golfers
Location: Bay Oaks Country Club (Par 72, 5,889 yards); Houston, Texas
Top 3 teams: 1 – New York University (311-302—613, +37), 2 – Methodist (307-307—614, +38), 3 – Williams (Mass.) College (309-306—615, +39),
Top 3 individuals: T-1 – Nina Kouchi, Grinnell (Iowa) College (76-73—149, +5), T-1 – Ziyi Wang Carleton (Minn.) College (75-74—149, +5), T-1 – Emily Salamy, Rhodes (Tenn.) College (74-75—149, +5)
THE DETAILS
- Methodist teed off in the afternoon from the 10th hole at Bay Oaks on Wednesday.
- Church started her round with a pars on Nos. 10, 11, 13 and 14 sandwiching a birdie on the 12th. She did not close the round in the manner in which she would have liked, but parred No. 18 to make the turn with positive momentum.
- Her front nine included a single blemish, a bogey on No. 2, but otherwise Church was money on the greens the rest of the way, rolling in seven consecutive par putts to finish her day with a 3-over 75.
- Peyton Durham (T-11, 75-77—152, +8) was 1-under through her first six holes on the back Wednesday, but was a plus-4 on the last three before steadying with four straight pars to open her front nine. A tough triple-bogey on No. 5 cost her, but she finished 1-under over her final four holes.
- Methodist's biggest climber Wednesday was Jillian Drinkard (T-25, 80-76—156, +12). The freshman moved up 24 spots after a challenging Day 1 on Tuesday. Her opening back nine Wednesday was more of the same, at 5-over, but she caught fire after bogeying No. 1, collecting a pair of birdies on the next two holes, then finishing her afternoon even par over the last six holes for a 1-under front half.
- Another of Methodist's freshmen, Alexandra Williams (T-29, 76-81—157, +13), added strokes on four holes each during her back and front nines Wednesday. The positive coming out of the round, though, were the four consecutive pars she dropped in on her final four holes.
- Morgan Bowen (T-45, 80-79—159, +15) seems to be finding her way back toward her season scoring average (78.1) with Wednesday's improvement. She played well on the back nine at just 2-over, but gave strokes back on the front nine with a 5-over finish.
OF NOTE
- The tournament field remains at 25 for Thursday's Round 3, but cuts to 15 teams heading into the final round on Friday.
- Currently that cut line sits at an 83-over-par 659 with Illinois Wesleyan University. The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Texas) and Saint Mary's (Ind.) College are both just one stroke back.
- Tuesday's individual leader, Bailey Plourde of Centre (Ky.) College, dropped into a fourth-place tie Wednesday. She carded a 71 on Day 2 but struggled to a 79 Wednesday for a 6-over 150.
UP NEXT
Methodist has the late tee-time (2:20 p.m. EDT) Thursday, and will begin its round at hole No. 1.
