Greensboro, Ga. – Freshman Madison Lehr led the Western Carolina women’s golf team in Friday’s opening round of the spring championship season, shooting 5-over par 77 to sit tied with nine others in 27th-place after 18 holes at the Reynolds Lake Oconee Invitational, hosted by Southern Conference counterpart Mercer at the par-72, 6,195-yard National Course at Reynolds Lake Oconee.

The Catamounts are 15th with two rounds to play, just three strokes in arrears of the tournament Top 10 in a tightly contested field.

 

Senior Elizabeth Lohbauer finished just one stroke back of her freshman teammate with a 6-over par 78, tied for 41st overall, while freshman Ella Kozak posted a 9-over par 81 to slot in a tie for 64th. Junior Sadler Miller recorded a 10-over par 82 to place in a tie for 70 as the WCU quintet was rounded out by freshman Annalee Caveney, who turned in an 86.

Beginning on hole No. 13, Lehr opened the round with five pars and a bogey in her opening six holes to make the turn to the front nine at plus one. Two bogeys among the first three holes on the front dropped her to 3-over par. The freshman’s lone birdie of the day came on the par-three fifth hole before three late bogies relegated her to an opening round 77.

Starting on No. 12, Lohbauer made the turn for the front at 3-over par with a birdie on the par-five 13th hole before three bogies and a double bogey negated her two front-nine birdies and led to an opening round 78. Kozak posted nine pars as part of her opening round 81, while Miller carded a pair of birdies along with four pars for her score of 82. Caveney charted a birdie along with seven pars on her opening 18 holes of the spring campaign.

SEC-foe Florida, ranked 26th in the GolfStat rankings, posted an opening round score of 299 (+11) to take a two-shot lead over host Mercer and sit three clear of Western Kentucky. Tulane opened the event with a 303 to rank fourth, followed by East Carolina with a score of 306 to round out the top five.

Catie Craig of Western Kentucky and Macie Burcham of East Carolina both shot a 1-under par 71 to carry a one-stroke lead over Mikayla Dubnik of Mercer and Charlotte Perkins of Florida Atlantic in the individual medalist competition. Craig, Burcham, Dubnik, and Perkins were the only four competitors on Friday to post an even-par round or better.

Paired with golfers from Daytona State and SoCon counterpart ETSU, WCU’s scoring five hits the course on the back nine for a second-straight day with a shotgun tee time of Noon. Live scoring through the Clippd Scoreboard app is available online through a link at CatamountSports.com.

Keep track of everything related to Catamount women’s golf and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, @CatamountWGolf).

15 – Western Carolina – 318

T27 – Madison Lehr – 77 (+5)

T41 – Elizabeth Lohbauer – 78 (+6)

T64 – Ella Kozak – 81 (+9)

T70 – Sadler Miller – 82 (+10)

T79 – Annalee Caveney – 86 (+14)