ST ANDREWS, Scotland — Vanderbilt women’s golf finished the first day of the inaugural St Andrews Links Collegiate on Monday with a 16-over-par 376-stroke performance. The Commodores sit tied for third place with Georgetown, two strokes behind Notre Dame following 18 holes. North Carolina is in the lead at 12-over par.
“Today was a really cool experience for our program getting to compete at St. Andrews,” said head coach Greg Allen.
Freshman Ava Merrill—tied for third individually—led the Commodores out the gate Monday with four birdies on the front nine on her way to a 1-over-par 73 performance. Virginie Ding also sits tied for third place, holing four total birdies en route to a 1-over 73 as well.
“[Virginie] Ding and Ava [Merrill] played really solid golf most of the day,” said Allen. “Unfortunately, they had a couple of bad breaks that cost them.”
Lynn Lim—also cracking the top 10—is tied for ninth place after carding a 3-over-par 75 total Monday. Sara Im notched a 4-over 76 that included three birdies on the front nine holes. Charlene Chung finished with a 79, and Tillie Claggett shot an 80.
After the opening round, Vanderbilt leads all teams in total birdies with 17, three more than any other school.
“The conditions got really tough the last six-seven holes and I don’t think we handled that very well,” said Allen. “But as poorly as we finished, we have another day to make sure we finish inside the top two and play for the championship on Wednesday. I’m excited for the challenge tomorrow and know that whatever the outcome, it will help prepare us for making cuts when April and May tournaments get here.”
All four teams will start the second round together with the first golfers taking the tee at 3:30 a.m. CT. Live scoring for the event can be found HERE.
