PINEHURST, N.C. --- The Tusculum College women's golf team climbed three spots and finished with a two-day 650 to finished tied for seventh place at the inaugural Pinehurst Challenge, held this week at the National Golf Club.

The Pioneers shaved 16 shots off its opening round to score to post a final round 317 for the team's second lowest round of the season and tied for the 10th-best in school history.

UNC Pembroke won a scorecard play-off to take the team title. The Braves shot a tournament-best round of 304 to finish the two-day event at 624. Saint Leo tied UNCP with a 624 as the Braves' number five player had a better score than the SLU Lions' number five player on Monday. Both number fives had the same score on Tuesday (the first tie-breaker).

SLU's Jordan Hatch won the individual title on the par 72, 5835 yard Jack Nicklaus-designed course. Hatch finished the 36-hole event with a three-over-par 147. She shot 74 Monday and 73 Tuesday. Hatch edged UNC Pembroke's Shauna Walor by one stroke at 148.

First round leader Newberry finished third with 626, while Carson-Newman placed fourth at 647. Pfeiffer and Florida Tech tied for fifth place with 648, while Tusculum and Flagler each finished seventh at 650. Host Wingate finished ninth at 658, while Armstrong Atlantic State and Mount Olive tied for 10th at 665. Catawba posted 669 to finish 12th, followed by Queens University of Charlotte (672), Lenoir-Rhyne (679), Coker (741), King (785) and Brevard (922).

Sara Howard led the Pioneers with her 82-78=160 to tie for 20th place. Aly Pugh tied for 25th place with 80-81=161, while Jillian Corum posted 84-81=165 to finish 36th. Katie Doane posted the most improvement from Monday's opening round as she trimmed 15 shots from her first round score to post 77 to finish with a two-day 169. Emily Palenkas rounded out the scoring with 87-89=179 to finish 69th. TC's Haley Rye fired 89-84=173 as an individual competitor to tie for 65th.

Tusculum returns to action on Thursday as they compete at the Maryville Invitational.

- TC -

Team Results
Pl. School Scores
** 1 N. Car. - Pembroke 320 304 624 +48
2 Saint Leo University 319 305 624 +48
3 Newberry College 312 314 626 +50
4 Carson Newman Coll 323 324 647 +71
5 Pfeiffer University 324 324 648 +72
Florida Inst of Tech 331 317 648 +72
7 Tusculum College 333 317 650 +74
Flagler College 321 329 650 +74
9 Wingate University 337 321 658 +82
10 Armstrong Atlantic 326 339 665 +89
Mount Olive College 341 324 665 +89
12 Catawba College 338 331 669 +93
13 Queens Univ of Charl 338 334 672 +96
14 Lenoir-Rhyne Univ. 359 320 679 +103
15 Coker College 378 363 741 +165
16 King College 395 390 785 +209
17 Brevard College 486 436 922 +346
DNF Barry University 325 DNF
** playoff winner

Tusculum Individual Scores
Pl. Players 1st 2nd Total
T20 Sara Howard 82 78 160
T25 Alyson Pugh 80 81 161
T36 Jillian Corum 84 81 165
T49 Katie Doane 92 77 169
69 Emily Palenkas 87 89 176
T65 Haley Rye* 89 84 173
* Individual competitor