After competing for three days at the Golfweek Fall Challenge in Pawleys Island, the Winthrop women’s golf team finished 16th out of 20 teams.
“As a team, we are all trying to eliminate big numbers from our rounds that end up hurting our team score. This semester has been great so far and we have a really amazing team chemistry. We are all very supportive of each other and this will help us to keep getting better and improving our games,” senior Sabrina Fonda said.
In the first round on Sunday, Sept. 12, junior Makenna Brindley shot a collegiate-low 1-over of 72, as well as led the team in Par 3 scoring with -1 and tied for the third lowest on the field.
Brindley and Fonda also tied second-best among the field for Par 5 scoring.
The only two sophomores on the team were also successful in the first round, with Regan Clifford posting the second-lowest score on the day for the Eagles with 75 and Valentine Savioz earning the third–lowest score for the team at 79.
Savioz also hit the most birdies by an Eagle with four, and overall the Eagles tied for the 7th most birdies in the field.
On Monday, Savioz continued to make an impression on the field, leading the Eagles with a 5-over (76), while Clifford had the second-lowest with a 9-over (80).
During this second round, freshman Emilie Marie Marceliussen-Dahl, Brindley and Savioz lead the team in Par 3 scoring with +3 after 36 holes. Marceliussen-Dahl also led the Eagles in Par 4 scoring with +4, while Fonda and Clifford lead the team’s Par 5 scoring with -1.
Finishing strong in the final round of the challenge, Fonda shot a collegiate-low even par score of 71, moving her up 19 spots. Prior to this competition, Fonda’s lowest score was a 75 in the second round of the 2019 Starmount Fall Classic.
“It felt great to have shot my collegiate low score. For the rest of the semester, I hope to continue improving and scoring even better,” Fonda said.
Fonda also birdied five holes on Tuesday, finishing out the day as one of only 12 golfers with a final round of even par or better.
“This was definitely a huge boost for my confidence and I will keep working hard on my golf and mental game to consistently play well for the team,” Fonda said.
Another notable performance during the final round includes Brindley earning the top team finish with the second-lowest round score of 79.
Similar to the day before, Brindley and Savioz led the Eagles in Par 3 scoring with +4, while Marceliussen-Dahl led the team in Par 4 scoring with +9.
Although the team was slightly disappointed to finish 16th in the tournament, Fonda recognizes that it is only the first competition of the 2021-2022 season, so there is plenty of room for the team to grow.
“We want to keep building on the positive takeaways from this tournament and learn from the experience. We know what we need to keep working on and we will use this tournament as motivation to make those improvements and finish better over the rest of the semester,” Fonda said.
The Eagles played in seven tournaments last semester since the fall and spring competitions were all placed into the one spring semester. On Monday, Sept. 20 and Tuesday, Sept. 21, the team participated in its second tournament of the season, the Pirate Collegiate Classic hosted by East Carolina University, and will follow it up with two more competitions later this fall semester.
“This week we [had] a quick turnaround before leaving for the Pirate’s Collegiate Classic. We [had only] a few days to practice and will individually focus on fine tuning the parts of our games that may have been weak at the Golfweek Fall Challenge,” Fonda said.
“I want to work hard and play well in my last year of college golf. By doing this, I hope to support the team goals of having successful tournament finishes and making a run at the Big South Conference Championship,” Fonda said.
