HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – On a windy, seaside day, Vanderbilt junior Celina Sattelkau sits in the top 10 on the leaderboard after the opening round of the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate on Monday.
“It was great having a healthy Celina back in the lineup,” head coach Greg Allen said.
Sattelkau, a product of Neustadt, Germany, carded even-par 71 on the Pete Dye Course at Long Cove Club after four birdies on her last six holes. She’s in a four-way tie for eighth-place in the medalist competition, just two strokes off the lead set by Furman’s Anna Morgan.
As a team, the Commodores rallied from a slow start Monday and finished tied for eighth-place with a 11-over-par 295 in the opening round. No. 21 Baylor sits atop the team standings, holding a two-stroke advantage over No. 11 Texas after firing a 3-over-par 287.
“I thought the girls showed a lot of fight after a rough start,” said Allen. “Long Cove (Club) is a great test on a calm day, but when you throw a steady 15 mph wind it can be brutal.”
The par-71 course that is 6,290 yards in length certainly challenged the field of top college golfers. No team is under par through 18 holes and just seven of the 90 individuals are under par. The average score among the individual field was 75.40.
The Dores struggled early, carding two double bogeys and 16 bogeys through the opening nine holes. Vandy combined to collect 13 birdies with nine coming on the last nine holes of the day.
Fifth-year senior Louise Yu is two strokes behind Sattelkau at 2-over-par 73 and sits in the top 25, tied for 22nd place. Sophomore Virginie Ding (+4) is tied for 47th and freshman Natasha Kiel (+5) is tied for 55th.
Senior Auston Kim never got rolling on the Dye design, opening with a pair of double bogeys in the first five holes and carding six bogeys overall. She fired birdies on No. 6 and No. 8 to close out her round.
“I’m proud of our attitudes and how we battled all day,” Allen said. “We showed a lot of toughness.”
Hosted by multi-platinum country artist and PXG ambassador Darius Rucker, the event made its television debut on GOLF Channel marking the first all-women’s regular season collegiate golf tournament to be presented live on the network.
The Dores tee off for the second round at 8:40 a.m. CT Tuesday. Live television coverage continues at 1:30 p.m. CT on GOLF Channel and live scoring can be found here.
Tough Start, Resilient Finish by Vanderbilt Athletics on on Exposure
