The Field vs. New Mexico – Brown, Clemson, Coastal Carolina, Columbia, East Tennessee State, Furman, Georgetown, Georgia Southern, James Madison, Kennesaw State, Missouri, North Carolina, Samford, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, and Wofford.
GREENVILLE, S.C. – After round one of the Lady Paladin Invitational, the New Mexico women’s golf team sits in second place overall with a team score of 291. At three-over par, the Lobos are only one stroke behind the leaders, Clemson University. Trailing closely behind is Wake Forest at four-over and Missouri at five-over.
Although a successful day overall, the Lobos did not start off the day as strong as they had hoped.
“All in all I think we played pretty steady,” said head coach Jill Trujillo. “We played a much better second nine than we did our front nine. Manon Molle’ had a slow start but she brought it back.”
Molle’ started the front nine of the tournament with three bogeys, a situation she rarely finds herself in. The number one player for the Lobos battled back in the second nine to secure herself a score of two-over going into round two, but still remains in the fourth position amongst her teammates.
“Today was a pretty tough day,” Molle’ admitted. “I started off with three bogeys so I tried to calm myself and do better on the back nine. My driving was not that good today, but I did my best. Tomorrow I will try to calm myself on the first tee instead of the ninth.”
When asked what helped her most on the back nine of the course, Molle’ attributed her success to the guidance of Coach Trujillo.
“I did better on my second nine because my coach was with me and was able to help me aim correctly at the pin and on the fairway which helped me a lot,” Molle’ explained. “I also made some good putts to make a few birdies.”
Leading the Lobos in the first round are Eva Saulnier and Ingrid Gutierrez with par even score cards of 72. Alexandra Moisand is close behind with a card of 73, then Molle’ at 74 and Sol Lee at three-over with a score of 75.
In the individual competition, Alice Hewson of Clemson currently sits at the top of the leaderboard with a card of 67 (-5). Eva Saulnier and Ingrid Gutierrez are tied for 7th place. UNM’s individual Katerina Jaeger is currently seven-over par (79).
“Tomorrow we need to do a little better on our short game and chipping,” said Trujillo. “Everybody’s attitude was great, but we need to focus a little more on our approach shots and conquer that back nine a little bit better tomorrow.”
Sol Lee will lead off for the Lobos tomorrow and will tee off from the first hole at 10:21 a.m.