JOHNS ISLAND, S.C. – In just her fourth-career tournament,
Maddy Corley needed one sudden-death playoff hole, but the freshman bested Lincoln Memorial's Dominika Czudkova to win her first tournament and lead the UNC Pembroke golf team to a sixth-place finish at the Barton Invitational at Kiawah on Sunday afternoon.
Corley (+4) carded a final-round 78 on a day in which the average score was exactly 11 strokes over par (83), while Czudkova (+4) was four shots better than the field with a second-round 68 on Sunday to jump from a tie for 15th into a sudden-death playoff. Corley led the field in par-5 scoring (-1) and birdies (7), while Czudkova ranked second in both par-3 scoring (E) and par-4 scoring (+1) during the 36-hole tournament.
Corley becomes the first Brave since
Katy Flax last season to win an individual title. Two UNCP freshmen have now claimed titles in the last six regular season events after having only one win an individual title in the first nine seasons of the program.
The Braves (+64) fell from fourth place to sixth place, but a second-round 322 was enough for their best team finish of the season. UNCP slotted seventh at the Myrtle Beach Intercollegiate Oct. 2-3 and eighth at the season-opening Battle at Old South Sept. 23-24. No. 13 Florida Southern (+43) broke the tie with No. 14 Wingate (+46) with a final-round 306 to win the team title by three strokes, while Tusculum (+52) finished third and Anderson (+62) and Lenoir-Rhyne (+62) shared fourth in the 16-team field.
UNCP sophomore
Casey Burroughs (+18) tied for 28th after carding a final-round 82, while senior
Savannah Thompson (+20) shaved two strokes off her Saturday Score with a second-round 81 to share 33rd with two others in the 80-player field. The aforementioned Flax (+23) finished solo 41st with a final-round 82, which was three shots better than her opening-round mark, and junior
Alexandria Bare bounced back from a Saturday 87 to card an 81 on Sunday and jump 15 spots into a tie for 42nd.
The Braves are back in action Feb. 19-20 at the Lady Moc Golf Classic hosted by Florida Southern at the Grasslands Golf and Country Club in Lakeland, Florida.
