The Vanderbilt Commodore women’s golf team bolted out to a fast start at the 18th annual Mason Rudolph Championship and have the team and individual lead after the first round of play at the Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn. The Commodores posted a first-round score of 278, which puts them atop the team leader board by one shot over Arizona State, and junior Abbey Carlson leads all individuals after a first-round 66.
Carlson’s 66 featured seven birdies and only one bogey on Friday and the junior from Lake Mary, Fla. has a one-shot lead on North Carolina’s Jennifer Zhou and Wake Forest’s Siyun Liu.
Other Commodore counters on Friday included a 69 from freshman Auston Kim, who is in a tie for fifth on the individual leader board, a one-under 71 from fellow freshman Annie Kim, and an even-par 72 from senior Courtney Zeng. Sophomore Louise Yu carded a two-over par, 74 in her first round on the North Course.
“I’m really proud of the effort today,” said Vanderbilt head coach Greg Allen. “I thought the girls played solid today and they looked really comfortable out there and handle themselves very well. Abbey seems to like the first round of the Mason, shooting another 66. She played great.”
For the day, Vanderbilt converted on 22 birdies from counting scores on Friday, which was second in the Mason Rudolph Field. The Commodores also tied for the lead in par-four scoring (3.98 strokes) and led the field in par-five scoring (4.65 strokes). Individually, Carlson is the tournament leader in par-five scoring and second in birdies with seven, and Auston Kim tying for the tournament lead in pars with 15.
Due to impending weather on Saturday, a shotgun start will begin at 8:30 a.m. with an attempt to play 36 holes the goal for the day.
“As for tomorrow, we’ve got to embrace the change in the schedule and be ready to go,” said Allen. “It will be a long day and probably a chance we have some weather delays. We encountered that in Charleston and handled it well. I really like where we’re at as a team and the cool thing is we haven’t reached our potential yet.”
1. Vanderbilt – 278
1. Abbey Carlson – 66
T5. Auston Kim – 69
T18. Annie Kim – 71
T28. Courtney Zeng – 72
T38. Louise Yu – 74
T50. Morgan Baxendale – 79*
T65. Virginia Green – 79*
* Playing as individual
(9/21/2018) Mason Rudolph Women’s Championship
