The Clubs of Prestonwood’s Hills Course
(The Clubs of Prestonwood Photo)

Players started with a 9:00 AM shotgun start on Monday at The Clubs of Prestonwood’s Hills Course. The 120-player field cruised around the golf course until storms started to form to the northwest. Play was suspended at 1:50 PM and all players were taken off the course due to lightning in the area.

Heavy rain and lightning kept the tournament in a delay up until 4:00 PM, when the decision was made to resume the next day. All the rain caused the Hills Course to become saturated and flooded, making some spots impassable.

The Partnership is a team event using a quota system for scoring. Players accumulate points through their rounds by their score on a hole. A par nets a player three points, a birdie five points, an eagle eight points, a bogey two points and a double- bogey one point. Quotas were determined based on each player’s course handicap and teams were flighted based on their combined handicap index.

Quotas will be adjusted 50-percent on the final day. For example, the first day, a 14-handicap must get 33 points. If she makes 40 points, then she earns her team seven points. The second day, after a 50-percent adjustment, this player must make 36.5 points, which is her original 33 points plus half her extra seven points from the first round.

Eight groups were able to complete their first rounds on Monday. Danielle Carroll and Amy Goodwin accumulated five points on the day and lead the fifth flight. Lydia Morris and Tani Traver amassed three points on Monday, while Liza Robinson and Lyn Jones, the defending champions, both reached their quotas on the day. Janice Aycock and Gale Rutledge missed their quotas by six points in the first round.

The sixth flight saw Jacquie Gallagher and Jackie Wayson earn eight points in the first round. Donna Berry and Vadonna Motley missed their quota by four points, Mackie Meeks Sandra Woods missed theirs by five points and Patricia Walters and Vivian Wittenburg missed theirs by eight points.

The Clubs at Prestonwood is hosting its first event since 2013, when the Women’s Texas Pinehurst came to the Hills Course. Dave Bennett designed the Hills Golf Course, which opened in 1986. The course is stretched to 5,306 yards for the 2017 Women’s Partnership.

The final round is set to begin after the completion of the first round on Tuesday.