Statesmen Near Top After First Round of Nationals
William Penn University Athletics
by Wade Steinlage
Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.–The William Penn women’s golf team held up well on a tough first day at the NAIA National Championships Tuesday.
WPU, which entered nationals #16 in the nation, is tied for 10th with a score of 321 at the par-72 PGA National (Champion Course). Top-ranked SCAD Savannah (Ga.) is pacing the 30-team field at 300, while William Woods (Mo.) is second at 309. The navy and gold are just 10 strokes out of third place.
Corinne Grans-Wood of SCAD Savannah is first out of 157 players at even-par 72.
Helene Larsen (Jr., Viborg, Denmark, Business Management) had an incredible start, sitting at two-under after six holes with birdies on the fourth and sixth holes. She unfortunately ran into trouble over the next five holes (+7 during that stretch) before settling back down with another birdie on Hole #13 and six additional pars to close with a 76 to tie for 12th overall.
Megan Rhoads (Jr., Schertz, Texas, Psychology) rebounded from a triple-bogey on the second hole by recording a birdie on Hole #7 to sit at +3 at the turn. The back nine was not as pleasant for the junior, however, but she was able to get a stroke back with a birdie on the 17th hole. In the end, Rhoads carded an 81 to tie for 58th.
Alexis Guimaraes (So., San Ramon, Calif., Psychology) matched Rhoads with an 81 of her own. The sophomore was five-over through nine holes and eight-over with two holes to go. Also like Rhoads, though, Guimaraes birdied the 17th, but suffered a double-bogey to end the day.
Elise Warne (Jr., Melbourne, Australia, Exercise Science) had a hard time getting anything going, but hopefully built some momentum for Wednesday’s second outing with a round-ending birdie on the 18th hole. She is currently tied for 81st with an 83.
Brittany Evans (So., Fernley, Nev., Business Management) tallied a birdie on Hole #11, but otherwise had a tough back nine with four holes of double-bogey or worse. She concluded her first round at 85 to tie for 96th.
Despite the slightly-elevated team score, the Statesmen actually came out fairly unscathed against an unforgiving golf course compared to most of the field as the #4, #7, #8, #10, and #15 teams in the NAIA all sit in WPU’s rearview after 18 holes of action.
William Penn was also considerably better than the other two programs it was paired with; Milligan (Tenn.) is tied for 24th at 340, while Morningside is 27th at 346. The trio hit the links right away Wednesday morning with its first tee time at 6:15 a.m. (Central) off of Hole #10.
The field will be cut down to the top 17 teams and top 40 individuals after Wednesday’s second round, making it crucial that William Penn post another solid score. The standings are tight throughout as WPU is only seven strokes ahead of the 18th-place team SCAD Atlanta (Ga.).
“Today was a challenging day on a tough course, but the ladies persevered,” Head Coach Chris Pierson said. “We positioned ourselves well after Day One. We still have another day to go and need to keep grinding through the challenges this course offers. It is going to be an exciting day of golf!”
