HICKORY, N.C. --- The Tusculum University women's golf team shot a 307 in the second round of the 2019 South Atlantic Conference Championship on Monday. The Pioneers trimmed nine shots off its first round score (316) for a two-day tally of 623 which moves TU into sixth place on the team leaderboard.
The three-day, 54-hole championship is being hosted by Lenoir-Rhyne University at the par-72, 6,065-yard Lake Hickory Country Club.
Tusculum senior Katie Tomassoni is tied for sixth place individually as the four-time All-SAC honoree has a two-day score of 151. She posted a 77 on Monday as she opened five over par in her first seven holes, but bounced back shooting even par for her last 11 including one-under par for her final three holes.
Anderson University carded the best score of the day as the Trojans shot 298 to take a two-shot lead overall with 609 after 36 holes. Wingate University and Lenoir-Rhyne are tied for second place with 611. Carson-Newman University is fourth with 614, followed by Coker College (616), Tusculum, Newberry College (634), Lincoln Memorial University (635), Catawba College (639), Queens University of Charlotte (645) and Mars Hill University (672).
Carson-Newman's Maeve Cummins and Wingate's Diana McDonald are tied for the individual lead at 147.
Tusculum rookie Olivia Cunningham had the low round of the day for the Pioneers with her 74, an eight-stroke improvement from Sunday's 82. She is tied for 18th place with 82-74=156. She birdied her second hole and bogeyed the fourth. She followed with eight consecutive pars before a bogey on the 13th and a double bogey in the 15th. Two pars and a birdie two on her last hole of the afternoon vaulted her 22 spots up the leaderboard.
Also tied for 18th place is TU senior Cydney Murrell who improved from Monday's 79 with a 77 to give her a two-round tally of 156. Freshman Julia Johansson had a roller coaster day that included three birdies, seven pars, seven bogeys and a triple bogey for a 79 giving her two-round score of 160 and is tied for 32nd place.
Tusculum sophomore Mackenzie Butler is 51st with 88-87=175.
The final round of the SAC Championship will be played on Tuesday with tee times beginning at 8 a.m. on holes No. 1 and No. 10. Tusculum will tee off at 8 a.m. starting on the first hole and will be paired with Carson-Newman and Coker. The team winner of the SAC Championship earns the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Division II Tournament.