Blue Raiders climb into Top 5 at Chattanooga Classic

Monday, March 29

Chattanooga, TN

Middle Tennessee

Chattanooga Classic

3/30/2021 3:15:00 PM | Women's Golf

Results (PDF)

Catherine Caudill earns Top 5 individual finish

By: @MTAthletics

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee Women's Golf was able to overcome a rough start in Monday's opening round at the Chattanooga Classic to move into fifth place by the end of Tuesday's final round to earn its second consecutive Top 5 team finish.

The Blue Raiders (+47) posted the third best round on the course Monday afternoon and the second best round on the course Tuesday morning to move up seven spots on the leaderboard after ranking as low as 12^th during parts of the first round, and defeated all three Conference USA opponents – WKU (+50), UAB (+79) and Marshall (+92) – in the field.

"We were able to post a pretty solid round today with being one of the first teams off the tee box," Head Coach Chris Adams said. "We still made a few mistakes early, but made several birdies today and had a much better finish."

Junior Catherine Caudill notched her second career Top 5 finish, claiming a share of third place at 5-over par (72-75-74=221) in the field of 71 golfers while competing as an individual.

The Clarksville native led the team in Par 3 scoring (-1, 2.92) and Par 5 scoring (E, 5.00) while posting 35 total pars and seven total birdies with no holes worse than bogey in the 54-hole event.

"I'm really proud of the way Catherine played this week," Adams stated. "She had a really strong and consistent performance throughout all three rounds."

Sophomore Molly Bebelaar earned a Top 15 finish on the week, turning in a 12-over par (80-73-75=228) performance at Black Creek Club to lead the Blue Raider lineup.

Junior Madison Smith (80-76-73=229) logged MT's best round of the day with a 1-over par 73 moving her into a share of 20^th place alongside teammate Taylor Edlin (78-75-76=229) at 13-over par.

Senior Caroline Caudill finished one stroke back of the pair at 14-over par (78-77-75=230) to finish inside the Top 25 on the individual leaderboard, sharing the 24^th spot.

Fellow veteran Sophie Burks fired the team's best 18 in Monday's afternoon round with an even par 72, but first round struggles made for a disappointing 54-hole score of 18-over par (85-72-77=234) for the senior.

"It's a short turnaround before we head to the Brickyard, but we'll get in as much work as we can and be ready to leave on Saturday," Adams exclaimed.

The Blue Raiders conclude their regular season on April 5-6 at Mercer's Brickyard Collegiate in Macon, Ga. The Conference USA Championship is set for April 19-21.