CofC Women's Golf Leads after First Round of Pinehurst Challenge

Pinehurst, N.C. - Ainhoa Nogales (Pozuelo de Alarcon, Spain) fired a 70, while Vanessa Koechli (Greer, S.C.) added a 71 to lead the College of Charleston women's golf to the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the Pinehurst Challenge being held Nov. 2-3 at Pinehurst #6 in Pinehurst, N.C.  Western Carolina shot a 296 and is second, five strokes behind.

Morehead State sits at third with a 298 and in fourth is Eastern Kentucky with its 304.

Nogales is tied for first along with Jacksonville State's Lucia Fernandez.  Koechli is third with her 71 in 18 holes.  Four players are tied for fourth as Wichita State's Adin Stromgren, Charleston Southern's Olivia Higgins, Western Carolina's Desiree Karlsson and Morehead State's Darlene Bognot all shot a 72 each.

Tied for 11th for the Cougars is Leigh Whittaker (Baden-Baden, Germany) with her 74 and tied for 20th is Kathy Boehm (Poing, Germany) with a 76.  Rounding out the Cougar starting five is Emily Rapp (Simpsonville, S.C.), who is tied for 33rd with a 79.

Two Cougars are competing as individuals with Anna Martin (Easley S.C.)  tied for 45th with an 81 and Maeve McKenna (Hangham, Mass.) who is tied for 7oth with an 87.

The second and final round begins at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday with a shotgun format.

Team Results

1 - College of Charleston, 291           

2 - Western Carolina, 296           

3 - Morehead State, 298           

4 - Eastern Kentucky, 304           

5 - Wichita State, 307           

T6 - Appalachian State, 308           

T6 - Jacksonville State, 308           

T8 - Jacksonville, 310           

T8 - Winthrop, 310           

10 - Old Dominion, 316           

11 - Charleston Southern, 321           

T12 - Radford, 322           

T12 - Creighton, 322           

14 - The Citadel, 339           

15 - South Carolina State, 343

College of Charleston Results

T1 - Ainhoa Nogales, 70

3 - Vanessa Koechli, 71

T11 - Leigh Whittaker, 74

T20 - Kathy Boehm, 76

T33 - Emily Rapp, 79

T45 - Anna Martin, 81

T70 - Maeve McKenna, 87

Western Carolina Women’s Golf Second at Pinehurst Fall Challenge

Karlsson leads Catamounts in fourth place entering Tuesday’s final round

Pinehurst, N.C. – Western Carolina put all four scoring golfers inside the top 15, carding an opening round 296 to stand five strokes off the pace in second place after the opening round of the Pinehurst Fall Challenge, hosted by first-round leader, College of Charleston, at the par-72, 6,004-yard Pinehurst No. 6.

Senior Desiree Karlsson shot an even par 72 on Monday, carding 36 on both the front and back nine to lead the Catamounts in a tie for fourth-place. Karlsson, a native of Ljunghusen, Sweden, was among the top four golfers with 14 pars through the first 18 holes.

As a team, WCU is second in the tournament with a combined 59 pars as a squad.

The host Cougars posted a three-over, 291, as a team over the first 18 holes of the 36-hole event and lead the Catamounts by five strokes. Morehead State is two strokes in arrears of WCU in third at 298, with Eastern Kentucky (304) and Wichita State (307) rounding out the top five teams.

Charleston’s Ainhoa Nogles and Lucia Fernandez from Jacksonville State each recorded two-under scores of 70 in the first round to stand tied atop the leader board. CofC’s Vanessa Koechli is third one stroke back, followed by the four-way tie for fourth place that includes Karlsson.

Sophomore Blaire Minter stands just outside the top 10 with a two-over, 74, in a tie for 11th, followed by senior Josefine Sundh and freshman Malin Jansson in a tie for 15th, one stroke back at 75. Jansson leads the tournament with a two-under on the par-3 holes entering Tuesday’s final round. Senior Tiffany Schisler rounds out WCU’s scorers in a tie for 33rd after shooting 79.

Entered as an individual, Ashley Shinn is tied for 70th after shooting 87 on Monday.

Playing with tournament leader College of Charleston and third-place Morehead State, Western Carolina will tee off at 8:45 am on Tuesday as a part of the shotgun start on the first three holes of the course.