FAIRFIELD, Texas – Ava Merrill paced Vanderbilt women’s golf and the field with a 3-under-par 69 in the opening round of The Fin at Freestone Lake & Golf Club in Fairfield, Texas. Merrill is the co-leader in the individual standings while the Commodores sit tied for fifth as a team at 11-over-par.
Monday was a rollercoaster on the newly-opened course as the Dores carded 16 birdies and two eagles but also posted a field-high 11 double bogeys or worse.
Merrill was no exception to the up-and-down day, carding two doubles in her first nine holes of the shotgun start before rebounding with a pair of eagles in a three-hole span. She added four birdies to her ledger to finish the day 3-under with a share of the lead.
“I thought Ava did a really good job today of showing a lot of resilience by not letting a couple holes get her down,” said head coach Greg Allen. “She played some really solid golf and made two really long putts for eagle that got her round going. I thought AT played really well but caught a tough break on 18. Sara had it going for a while but didn’t finish it.
Overall, we made way too many big numbers but I think some of them were course management mistakes that should be avoided tomorrow. We’re excited to be here and look forward to another opportunity to compete tomorrow.”
Angelina Tolentino played clean golf through 15 holes before a bogey and double on the 17th and 18th led to an even-par 72. The junior is tied for seventh on the individual leaderboard. One-stroke back of Tolentino, Commodore individual Elizabeth Rudisill posted a 1-over 73 to open her week.
Sara Im came home in 78 strokes while Olivia Wood rounded out the counting scores with an 80. Claire Henson finished at 10-over.
Round two of The Fin is set for a 9:30 a.m. shotgun start on Tuesday. Live scoring for all three rounds of The Fin will be available on Scoreboard by Clippd.