KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Charleston Southern put together its low round of the tournament to climb three spots and tie for 14th at the Edwin Watts Spring Classic on Kiawah Island on Tuesday morning at Osprey Point Golf Club.
The Bucs shot a team-298 (+10) and tied Western Kentucky for 14th in the 41-team field in their best finish in the event in six years. CSU moved up nine spots over the final two rounds.
Coastal Carolina (+7) held off Chattanooga (+15) and College of Charleston (+20) to pick up the team title. The Bucs were the second-highest finishing Big South team of five in the field, finishing well ahead of Longwood, Radford, and Presbyterian.
Troy's Fatima Cano and Chattanooga's Emily McLennan finished knotted for medalist honors at 6-under par. McLennan put together an impressive 67 (-5) in her final round.
CSU head coach Matt Cram-Smith on the Bucs at the Kiawah Classic:
"I'm very proud of the team for improving in each round. The girls really showed a lot of maturity out there in their decision making and competed well. We were so close to having a much higher finish and the team could see that after all was said and done. I'm sure this has motivated them to work harder on their weaknesses and continue to improve each tournament. Emelie played fantastic yesterday in very strong winds to finish at 1 under and has really showed nice improvement in her mental game. Shelby lead the team this week with 3 decent scores in the conditions. She's very close to winning again I'm sure. Hannah came up big for us today with a solid 74 which could've easily been an under par round. Hayley improved each round and hit the ball really well again this week. Her 73 today was huge for us to move up the leaderboard."
Junior Shelby Thompson had a team-high three birdies in her round of 74 (+2) to become the Bucs' highest finisher. She was 1-under through six holes to start her round strong and becomes CSU's top finisher for the fifth time in seven events.
Sophomore Hayley McNeill had a CSU-best 73 (+1) to climb to 53rd. She played the challenging back nine at Osprey with nine pars and had two birdies on the front nine.
Junior Hannah Barger matched her best round of the year with a 74 (+2) on Tuesday. Coming off her first career Top 10 in Las Vegas, Barger was even on the front nine to give CSU four strong scores.
Junior Natthakan Teeratrakul carded an 80 (+8) in her best round of the event.
The Bucs have a short week, returning to sction on Sunday at the North Florida Collegiate in Jacksonville, Fla. The 54-hole event runs Sunday-Tuesday (March 6-8) at Jacksonville Golf and Country Club.
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