CLEMSON, S.C. – The Ole Miss women’s golf team got off to a hot start in their final regular season tournament of 2023 at the Clemson Invitational, as the Rebels finished under par with a 287 (-1) on the day to sit in second place overall.
The team saw cool, calm and collected play to open their tournament throughout the whole lineup, with the Rebels ending day one leading the field in par-3 scoring (-2) and total pars (64), while also tallying 12 birdies to help the squad be one of just two teams to end day one below par. Ole Miss also ranks second in par-4 scoring overall, shooting two-over on those holes on Friday.
“Today was a solid start to our tournament,” head coach Kory Henkes said. “We have a few course management errors to clean up before our next round but overall we are in a good position to make a run at it tomorrow.”
A fresh face led the way for the Rebels on day one, as first-year Nicole Gal blazed the Reserve at Lake Keowee Golf Course to card a career-low round of 70 (-2), earning a share of sixth heading into Saturday. The Oakville, Ontario, native’s five birdies ranks second amongst all golfers in attendance for the opening day, trailing only tournament leader Savannah Grewal of Clemson.
“We had some great golf today from our freshman, Nicole Gal,” Henkes said. “It was awesome to see her hard work starting to pay off.”
Gal will now have two more rounds to pursue what could be a career weekend for the freshman, as she’ll aim to improve upon her current career-best finish of 25th at The Ally where she made her collegiate debut in the fall.
Two other Rebels carded themselves par or better rounds in Friday’s opening round in South Carolina, as both Chiara Tamburlini and Elle Johnson closed out day one with rounds of 72 (E) on the day.
The senior duo heads into Saturday tied for 14th, which would stand as a new career-best finish for Johnson since joining the Rebels in the fall. Tamburlini, on the other hand, is aiming to secure what would be her seventh Top 20 finish of the season in eight tournament appearances.
Senior Andrea Lignell sits right on the fringe of the Top 20 through one round of action at Lake Keowee, with her round of…
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