Central’s Coppess in contention at NCAA women’s golf tourney

Central Dutch Athletics

Central Dutch Athletics

HOUSTON, TEXAS—Central College’s Brittany Coppess (senior, Clinton) and Emily Opsal (junior, Verona, Wis.) surged into the top 25 after the opening round of the NCAA Division III Women’s Golf Championship Tuesday.

Competing at the 5,889-yard, par-72 Bay Oaks Country Club, Coppess fired a 75 to share sixth place and Opsal followed with 77 and is tied for 22nd. Bailey Plourde of Centre College (Ky.) leads with a 1-under-par 71 while Taylor Beckwith of Whittier College (Calif.) is second at 73.

But the Dutch are 17th in the 25-team field at 336. Following Thursday’s third round, the field will be cut to the top 15 teams for Friday’s finish of the 72-hole tournament.

Lexie Patton (junior, Aurelia, Alta-Aurelia HS) shot 89, Rachael Danielson (freshman, Jefferson, Greene County HS) had 95 and Stacy Mohr (junior, Sigourney) had 97.

Coppess carded four birdies, vaulting into the top-10 with back-to-back birds on the final two holes. Starting on the back nine, Coppess was 1-under-par after seven holes and shot 37 for her opening nine. After four bogeys in a five-hole stretch on the front nine, the late birdie binge gave Coppess a closing 38 for 75, two shots off her career best.

“Brittany actually had a couple of chances get away from her on the (first nine holes) but she came up pretty huge after that,” coach Tim Wilkinson said. “She made some really nice putts.”

It wasn’t a promising start for Opsal, who bogeyed the first four holes. But she played the next 12 holes in 1-under par before bogeying the last two for 39-38—77, one off her career best.

“Emily had a tremendous rebound from a rough start,” Wilkinson said. “She had a run of pars that was impressive.”

Patton struggled to a 46 on the back nine but squeezed a birdie among three double-bogeys on the front nine to come back with a 43.

Danielson endured a rocky start that included a quadruple-bogey and shot 51 on her opening nine and was 6 over par on the first two holes of her second nine but settled in for an encouraging finish. She played the final seven holes in 2-over for a closing 44.

“Her score doesn’t show it because she had such an awful start, but she finished well,” Wilkinson said.

Mohr finished with two pars on the final two holes and shot 48-49.

The course had sustained heavy rains and storm damage which affected play in practice rounds, but conditions quickly changed with temperatures reaching the low 80s by afternoon.

“It’s amazing how quickly it dried out,” Wilkinson said. “The greens sped back up. It was hard to adjust. Chip shots were rolling an extra five feet.”

While it’s an exciting start for Coppess, Wilkinson said there’s no time to think ahead.

“She’s got to stay in the moment and focus on the shot she’s hitting,” he said.

Central has an early start Wednesday after playing in the afternoon Tuesday. The team’s first tee time is 7:50 a.m.

“Playing in the morning is a little more like we’re used to,” Wilkinson said. “We’re not used to sitting around until noon to tee off.”

Having the first round out of the way should help the Dutch, Wilkinson said.

“We should be a little more comfortable,” he said. “Hopefully we can move up a few spots.”

Posted by on May 15 2019. Filed under College Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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