The William Penn women’s golf team weathered a literal storm and is still in the mix after the first two days at the NAIA National Championships on Tuesday and Wednesday.
#20 WPU sits in 16th place out of 27 teams after 36 holes at the par-72 Savannah Quarters Country Club. The navy and gold posted a score of 322 on Tuesday and then tallied another 322 on Wednesday for a total of 644.
Tuesday’s opening round was suspended by lightning with a few golfers, including some from William Penn, still on the course. Those in the navy and gold wrapped up their opening 18 holes Wednesday morning and then went immediately back to work for the second round.
Top-ranked Northwood (Fla.) is holding a slim lead as the top of the standings are tightly-packed. Northwood is at 609 (308-301), while Cumberlands (Ky.), which played with WPU in the first two rounds, is just one shot back at 610. Cumberlands’ second round 298 is the lowest of the event thus far. The top ten squads are separated by only 14 strokes.
Thursday’s third round will be the most important of all, though, as the top 17 teams will make the cut for the final 18 holes.
The Statesmen will be paired up with Indiana Tech (17th place, eight strokes back of WPU) and Milligan (Tenn.) (18th place, 14 strokes back) on Thursday beginning at 7:30 a.m. (Eastern) on Hole #1.
While Heather Shake of Houston-Victoria (Texas) leads the 143-player field at one-under-par 143 (73-70), Maggie Yang is pacing her squad as she is tied for 52nd place at 159 (82-77). Yang is tied for 10th with a par 5 scoring average of 5.00.
Demi Coertze is right behind her in a tie for 58th at 160 (78-82). Coertze is tied for fifth in the field with a 3.00 scoring average on par 3s. Natalie Booton is one stroke behind her fellow junior at 161 (78-83) to be tied for 67th. Booton leads the Statesmen with five birdies.
Jing Yang is currently tied for 80th at 164 (84-80) and Alexandria Eckenrod is tied for 112th at 171 (88-83).
Other statistics of note:
–William Penn is ranked sixth in par 3 scoring at 3.33
–The team has tallied 89 pars and 11 birdies
