Freshman Laura Edmonds fired an even-par 144 through 36 holes of the Amelia Island Collegiate on Monday and is positioned in a tie for second-place individually, while the FGCU women's golf team sits fifth among 16 teams overall with a 600 (+24).
The Eagles will close out the event with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start on Tuesday.
"It's nice to see us in the mix near the top of the leaderboard after a bit of a marathon day," FGCU head coach Sarah Trew said. "Overall we played OK. I certainly don't think that we had our best games but it was nice to see us grind out each round. I think we lost some shots with a couple of course management errors that we can tweak before Tuesday."
Edmonds closed the opening round with birdies on three of the final four holes after shooting +2 on the front nine. She then earned three more birdies in the second round, including a pair over the 16th and 17th holes. Her even-par score is tied with four others for second place - just one shot behind Georgia State's Harmanprit Kaur for the individual lead.
"I'm very proud of Laura and her continuous good play," Trew said. "She's in a great position to contend for individual medalist Tuesday. She never gives up and always fights for every shot. I'm excited to see what happens in the final round."
Senior Madeline Marck-Sherk (75, +3) and Ailsa Clark (76, +4) also sat in the top 30 through the opening round. Then, in the second round, Natalia Nassar (76, +4) and Kelsy Holbert (77, +5) each shaved two strokes off their opening round score to help the Eagles shoot an even 300 in each round.
"This team is very capable of shooting low scores, and I don't think you can ever count us out," Trew said. "On Tuesday, we need to take better advantage of the par fives and a couple other birdie holes. If we do that and eliminate three-putts, we will put up a good round."
Individual Standings
T-2. Laura Edmonds - 71-73---144 (E)
T-13. Madeline Marck-Sherk - 75-74---149 (+5)
T-32. Ailsa Clark - 76-77---153 (+9)
T-34. Natalia Nassar - 78-76---154 (+10)
T-45. Kelsy Holbert - 79-77---156 (+12)
Team Standings
1. #68 - North Florida - 290-298---588 (+12)
2. #98 - Marshall - 293-299---592 (+16)
T-3. #171 - Georgia State - 297-301---598 (+22)
T-3. #107 - Sam Houston State - 299-299---598 (+22)
5. #119 - FGCU - 300-300---600 (+24)
6. #152 - Cincinnati - 301-305---606 (+30)
7. #2- Daytona State (NJCAA) - 307-305---612 (+36)
8. #105 - Western Kentucky - 308-307---615 (+39)
9. #163 - Winthrop - 308-308---616 (+40)
10. #131 - Jacksonville State - 314-303---617 (+41)
T-11. #165 - Samford - 309-309---618 (+42)
T-11. #159 - Jacksonville - 307-311---618 (+42)
13. #123 - Georgia Southern - 311-309---620 (+44)
14. #147 - USC Upstate - 314-312---626 (+50)
15. #234 - Morehead State - 305-325---630 (+54)
16. #169 - UAB - 321-313---634 (+58)
Quotes From Other Coaches:
Marshall: "We played great today for our first two rounds back for the semester," Herd head coach Brooke Burkhammer said. "We continue to put ourselves in contention and tomorrow we have to be ready to play and start out strong. I'm very proud of these ladies."
Georgia State: “I’m so proud of the way everyone played today,” GSU head coach Cathy Mant said. “Everyone in our line-up contributed and that is what it takes to be successful at this level. Harmanprit worked really hard in the offseason and is playing some incredible golf right now. I was equally impressed by Maria who worked hard on her putting all offseason and showed the work pay off today.”
Cincinnati: "I am proud of the effort the ladies gave today," said head coach Janet Carl. "It is really hard to have your first event be a 36-hole day, especially when you are only allowed 18 practice holes and are at the mercy of the weather. We knew there would be flashes of brilliance and wanted the players to focus on those and not needs-work shots. Today was a team effort that included fighting through all 10 hours. Our goal tomorrow is to go out and have more good and great shots than today. The Bearcats battled today and will fight to the finish tomorrow."
JU: "I thought we competed on a day in which the course played pretty tough," said Head Coach Jennifer Borocz. "This was our first 36-hole outing of the year so it was a good test of our endurance on a hot day. I am hoping to see us finish strong tomorrow."
Georgia Southern: "It wasn't the start we wanted, but we talk a lot about learning, improving and moving on from mistakes and how we can learn more from our poor performance days than the good ones," said head coach Emily Kuhfeld. "We noticed today a lot of short-game shots get away from us, and we have to play cleaner around the greens to achieve our goals. Tomorrow is a new day and we are excited to go attack the course from the very first tee shot!"
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