Kent State pushed through miserable weather on Monday morning and still salvaged a first-round 19-over 303 at Cherokee Country Club. The team shaved 19 shots from the first round to the second round later that day. A second-round, even-par 284 was the best afternoon score by at least six shots, and left Kent State in second entering the final round. A 1-under 283 on Tuesday, the only under-par round from the field for the event.
Kent State placed two players inside the top 10 on the individual leaderboard – Michaela Finn at T-5 and Pimnipa Panthong at T-8. Kentucky’s Leonie Bettel won the individual title at 5-under 208. She had a final-round 6-under 65 that bumped her four shots up the leaderboard.
While Middle Tennessee, playing in its home state, was the next-closest team, Charlotte produced the real drama. The team is only in its second year of existence and still searching for its first program win. Charlotte flirted with that at the Mercedes-Benz, only to finish 24 over and six shots behind Kent State.
Illinois tied Charlotte for third and host Tennessee was part of a tie for fifth with Texas-San Antonio and Eastern Kentucky.
🚨FINAL SCORES 🚨
— KentStateWomen'sGolf (@KentStWGolf) September 18, 2018
TEAM RESULTS
🏆Kent State - 303-284-283/870 (+18)
INDIVIDUAL
T5 Michaela Finn 214 (+1)
T8 Pimnipa Panthong 217 (+4)
T18 Chloe Salort 221 (+8)
T28 Karoline Stormo 223 (+10)
T31 Marissa Kirkwood 224 (+11)
*T41 Kory Nielsen 226 (+13)
*Playing as an individual pic.twitter.com/OZeypojBSt