HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. - Sophomore Ainhoa Nogales (Pozuelo de Alarcon, Spain) shot a five-over par 77 as the College of Charleston women's golf team sits in third after the opening round of the 2011 Southern Conference Women's Golf Championship held Sunday at Moss Creek Golf Club's North Course.
Nogales was on top of the leaderboard during the final three holes and now sits in a six-way tie for fifth behind No. 86-ranked Emma de Groot of Chattanooga, who is the current individual leader with a two-over 74. Nogales made two of the team's seven birdies on the day.
As a team, CofC is just 10 strokes off the pace with a first-round score of 313 (+25) trailing only first-place UTC (+15) and second-place UNCG (+23). All five Cougars in the lineup are currently in the top 25 individually with junior Leigh Whittaker (Baden-Baden, Germany) and sophomore Vanessa Koechli (Greer, S.C.) tied for 11th with a six-over 78.
"It was a good start for us," CofC head coach Jamie Futrell said. "We worked through some early-round jitters and did a good job of putting ourselves in the middle of things. If we can get Leigh and Kathy (Boehm) playing well tomorrow, we still feel like we will have a chance at making a run at Chattanooga."
The Cougars will tee off tomorrow beginning at 10:30 a.m. (ET) and will be paired with UNCG and UTC. Live scoring will be available throughout the tournament at Golfstat.com or by CLICKING HERE.
2011 SOUTHERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP
April 17-19, 2011
North Course at Moss Creek Golf Club
at Hilton Head Island, S.C.
TEAM RESULTS (First Round)
1, Chattanooga, 303 (+15). 2, UNC Greensboro, 311 (+23). 3, College of Charleston, 313 (+25). 4, Furman, 320 (+32). 5, Elon, 321 (+33). T6, Samford, 323 (+35). T6, Western Carolina, 323 (+35). 8, Appalachian State, 331 (+43). 9, Wofford, 332 (+44). 10, The Citadel, 346 (+58).
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON INDIVIDUAL RESULTS (First Round)
T5, Ainhoa Nogales, 77 (+5). T11, Leigh Whittaker, 78 (+6). T11, Vanessa Koechli, 78 (+6). T20, Anna Martin, 80 (+8). T25, Kathy Boehm, 81 (+9).
