The Upper Iowa women's golf team opened play on Friday at the NSIC Women's Golf Championship at Paradise Pointe Golf Complex in Smithville, Missouri. The Peacocks are currently in fourth place after a first round score of 337 (+49). Augustana University is in first place after shooting a first round of 306 (+18) and hold a 25-stroke lead over second-place Minnesota State (331).
UIU was led by
MacKayla Olsen, who scored a 78 (+6), the fifth-best return on day one.
Brooke Knutson and
Jaden Schweinefus each turned in rounds of 86 (+14) and are tied for 23rd place.
MacKenzie Olsen was able to improve her front-nine score by three strokes to finish with an 87 (+15) and tie for 27th place.
Ryah Bergeron currently sits in 62nd place after a first-round score of 105 (+33).
As a team, the Peacocks are in the top five in par-4 scoring with a stroke average of 4.72 (+36) and total pars with 35 after one round. Individually, Olsen is tied for first among all competitors in par-4 scoring with a stroke average of 4.10 (+1) and is tied for fifth with 11 total pars.
The second round of the NSIC Championship will begin on Saturday morning with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. An adjustment was made from tee time starts to hopefully avoid severe weather on Saturday afternoon. The third and final round will be a 9 a.m. shotgun start on Sunday.
The top five golfers will be named NSIC All-Tournament, while the team champion will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Central Super Regional, which will be played on May 2-4 at Hot Springs Country Club and hosted by Henderson State University. The top nine teams in the central region rankings, along with six individuals not on those teams, will compete at regionals.
