Franklin, Tenn.- On a chilly fall morning at the Vanderbilt Legends Golf Club, the Mississippi State women’s golf team completed the first 18 holes of the Mason Rudolph Championship. After the first round of play, State is in third place shooting 4-under par (284). The Bulldogs are only two strokes back of first-place Arizona (6-under par) and one stroke behind host university, Vanderbilt (5-under par).
The No. 31 ranked Bulldogs used strong performances up and down the scorecard on Friday to remain in the top three throughout the day, climbing to the top of the leaderboard on holes 6-12. The Maroon and White bolstered three top-10 performances on the day.
Ashley Gilliam opened up her second consecutive trip to the Mason Rudolph Championship by carding her eighth career round in the 60s with 3-under par (69). Gilliam used a fast start to propel her day as she parred her first five holes before sinking two straight birdies. Gilliam finished the day parring 13 while sinking the second most birdies on the day with four.
The freshman/5th-year duo of Izzy Pellot and Hannah Levi both finished tied for 10th with a 1-under par (71) after the opening round. Going back to the last tournament, Pellot has now recorded three straight rounds of par or better golf. On the back nine, Pellot rolled in eight pars. Levi used a very successful back nine in which she rolled in eight pars and a birdie. Throughout the first round, Levi sunk three birdies and 13 pars.
Another Bulldog duo finished tied on the day as Abbey Daniel and Julia Lopez Ramirez both finished tied for 23rd with a 1-over par (73). Lopez Ramirez worked around an early bogey on the second hole by rattling off nine straight pars on holes 3-11. On the back nine, Daniel rolled in three straight pars before a bogey brought her to two over. On the final five holes of the day, Daniel parred four and sunk a birdie on hole 17.
As a team, Mississippi State carded 77 pars on the day. Five Bulldogs carded 13 pars each in the first round.
The Bulldogs will be paired with Arizona and Vanderbilt for Saturday’s second round, teeing off in 10-minute intervals between 10:10-10:50 a.m. CT. Live scoring will be available throughout the tournament at www.golfstat.com
Quoting Coach Ewing
On the opening round of play
“Today was a solid day all the way…
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