Women's Golf shows great improvement in final round

Tuesday, February 26

The Woodlands, TX

All Day

Middle Tennessee

Icon Invitational

Photo by: Jared Thomas

2/26/2019 3:20:00 PM | Women's Golf

Blue Raiders close out Icon with 3-over 291

By: @MTAthletics

Final Results

THE WOODLANDS, Texas – After finishing up round two at 15-over par to start the day Tuesday, 17 strokes below its round one total, Middle Tennessee women's golf shaved 12 more strokes in round three by firing a 3-over par 291 to close out their time at the Icon Invitational.

The solid performance in the final round at The Woodlands Country Club allowed the Blue Raiders (320-303-291=914) to move ahead of Conference USA foe Southern Miss (299-305-313=917) and come up just short of surpassing Kansas State (310-305-296=911) to move into 12^th.

MT's ability to improve in each round, cutting 17 strokes from round one to round two and 12 more strokes from round two to round three, should provide confidence as they move forward in the spring with three more tournaments on the schedule before competing in the Conference USA Championship in April.

"Obviously in the first round back this semester, you're just trying to get comfortable with your swing and those first nine holes we just really shot ourselves in the foot," Head Coach Chris Adams said. "The way we bounced back was encouraging and realistically we probably should have finished three or four spots higher than we did.

"We're disappointed with our first round but obviously we're happy we improved each round and gave ourselves something to build on next week in Wilmington."

Senior Hanley Long claimed the top finish for Middle Tennessee at 8-over par (75-75-74= 224) on the week, while teammate Catherine Caudill's blistering 3-under par 69 on day three launched her 26 spots up the leaderboard to 12-over par (80-79-69=228) by the end of the tournament.

"Hanley had another solid tournament this week, and any time you can get a round like Catherine's out of a freshman it's a bonus," Adams added. "She's really a strong competitor."

Senior Jenna Burris turned in her strongest round of the week in the third and final round with an even par 72 to cap off her first appearance since September after missing time due to injury.

After a tough opening round, sophomore Sophie Burks fired back with rounds of 1-over 73 and 4-over 76 to help the Blue Raiders ease up the team leaderboard two spots.

Middle Tennessee returns to the course looking to get back on track on March 4 when the team tees off in the River Landing Classic in Wilmington, N.C.