Underwood takes second for Central women’s golf squad
NORMAL, ILLINOIS—The weather was soggy but Central College sophomore Delaney Underwood (sophomore, Mitchellville, Colfax-Mingo HS) was sizzling, firing a 78 and taking second place at the Kathy Niepagen Spring Fling Sunday.
Playing in two days of steady rain, Underwood finished at 82-78—160 in the 36-hole tourney hosted by Illinois Wesleyan University. She finished behind Precious Saelee of Rose-Hulman (Ind.) who won with 79-79—158.
The Dutch remained sixth in the team standings at 353-350—703, 20 shots better than seventh-place Luther College but five back of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Rose-Hulman was a runaway winner with 321-332—653.
Underwood’s round was highlighted by an eagle after holing a shot from roughly 40 yards out.
“She had a really great day,” coach Tabitha Schumacher said. “Her short game was working really well. It rained the entire day and it was at least 10 degrees colder today. In weather like that, you’re going to hit bad shots, you’re going to be in tough positions and the ball isn’t going to roll at all on the greens. But she stayed level-headed. Even on the last hole, she hit it in the water off the tee, but came back, put it on the green and took two putts for a bogey.
“I think this definitely shows how good she can be.”
Schumacher said the rest of the squad endured the elements reasonably well. Mackenzie Biggs (freshman, Bloomington, Ill., Normal HS) was 25th at 88-89—177 with
Avery Woods (freshman, Long Grove, North Scott HS) at 90-91–181, Peyton Bytnar (freshman, Bettendorf) at 93-92–185 and Whitney Anderson (sophomore, Sioux Rapids, Sioux Central HS) at 101-99—200.
“We still have a lot of rust to our game,” Schumacher said. “We’re not quite where we’d like to be but overall I’m pleased with how they battled out there.”
Central travels to Waverly for the 36-hole Wartburg Spring Invitational Saturday and Sunday at the par-70 Waverly Golf and Country Club.
“There will be a few good teams there,” Schumacher said. “It will be nice because in the fall, we played the same teams in every single tournament but now we get to see some new faces and new competition to see where we are.”
