Howey-In-The-Hills, Florida (May 8, 2018) - Junior
Emily Gilbert paced Alvernia University to a team total of 374 with a 10-over 83 on the first day of competition at the NCAA DIII National Championship at Mission Inn's El Campeón Course on Tuesday.
Gilbert's 83 positioned her in a tie for 49th in the 130 player field. Alvernia currently sits in 23rd and is just seven strokes back from breaking the top 20.
Alvernia's first ever round in the NCAA Championship was kicked off by junior
Jordan Kissner on the par 5 10th. Kissner posted six pars on her round on her way to a score of 101. Her first par of the day came on the par 3 12th, and she carded her second par on the par 5 14th after posting a double on the 13th. Kissner opened up her front nine with bogey-double-double before settling in for two consecutive pars on the par 4 4th and par 4 5th. Kissner ended her round with a par on the par 3 8th, where she was the only individual in her group to make it safely on a green surrounded mostly by water, and a bogey on the par 4 9th.
Also posting a 101 was freshman
Briana Hocker. Hocker, like Kissner, posted her first par of the round on the par 3 12th. Her tee shot split two bunkers that guard the front of the green, and she two putted for par. Hocker struggled a bit on the rest of her back nine, posting a 55 at the turn. Hocker started fresh on the first hole, and chipped in for par about thirty yards out from the pin. She then went bogey-bogey on two and three before making a second par on the short, but steep uphill, par 4 4th. Hocker would go on to shave nine strokes off her first nine score and post a 46 on the front nine for a 101 overall.
Posting the second best score on the day for the Golden Wolves was senior
Cayla McCarty, with a round 16 over round of 89. McCarty started off her day playing bogey golf on the first four holes of her round. The senior then dropped three pars in a row on the 5th, 7th, 8th holes. McCarty started off her front nine with a birdie on the par 5 1st hole. McCarty, like Hocker, carded a par on the par 4 4th. McCarty tripped up on the next four holes going bogey-double-double-triple. McCarty capped off her round with an excellent par on the par 4 9th. After flying the ball over the green from a fairway bunker, McCarty chipped up to a few feet from the hole and converted the par putt. With a score of 89, McCarty currently sits in a tie for 87th.
Capping of the Golden Wolves first day of competition was junior
Emily Gilbert. Gilbert started the day with a par on her first hole of the day, the long par 5 10th. She then went bogey-bogey-bogey before settling in for two straight pars on the 14th and 15th holes. She then made a par on her final hole of the back nine, the par 4 18th. Gilbert opened up her front nine with three straight pars. Her par on the 1st dropped after the putt rolled around the edge of the cup before dropping in, and her tee shot on the par 3 2nd hole was just a few feet from the pin. After her three straight pars, Gilbert posted her lone birdie of the round on the par 4 4th. She had a hiccup on the par 5 5th with a triple bogey following a tee shot that found the fairway bunker down the right side. She rebounded nicely and finished her round going bogey-par-par-bogey for a round of 83.
With Alvernia starting in the second wave of teams on day one, they now switch to early tee times. Kissner will once again kick off the Golden Wolves with a tee time of 8:00 AM on Wednesday morning. Alvernia will go off the first hole on day two of the tournament.
Live scoring for round two and the entire tournament can be found
here.
