Jon Dunning
Staff Writer
Murray State women’s golf competed at the Kiawah Island Intercollegiate in Kiawah, South Carolina, from Sunday, March 1, to Tuesday, March 3, with senior Raeysha Surendran tied for 12th out of 264 players.
Surendran played well over the course of the three-day event, considered to be the largest college golf tournament in the country. Surendram scored 76-72-68=216.
Head Coach Velvet Milkman was impressed by Surendran’s performance.
“To finish 12th out of 264 players is phenomenal, and she played extremely well,” Milkman said. “The first day you could tell it was our first tournament. We hadn’t played in a tournament since October, and that showed. She was a little bit rusty, but then she really started to get into her groove and just play four-under for the next 36 holes which is really good.”
The Racers placed 33rd out of 53 teams overall with a score of 313-307-307=927. The Kiawah Island Intercollegiate was the first game of the spring 2020 semester for the golf team.
Milkman thinks the Racers gave great performances, but believes there are lessons the team can take away from the Kiawah Intercollegiate.
“Everybody played well at times,” Milkman said. “It’s a good place to start…[we] knew what we had to work on and it really showed this weekend, so we’ve got to continue to work hard to get better for the next one.”
Freshman Eliza Kho tied for 84th, freshman Payton Carter tied for 192nd, senior Lucila Puente Rodriguez tied for 206th and junior Charli Doss placed 246th.
The team has areas in which it can improve, Milkman said. The coach looks forward to warmer weather so that Murray State can get in better practices.
“We definitely can improve,” Milkman said. “We’re a much better team than we showed. Short game needs to continue to get a lot of work. [It’s] been a wet spring, so we hadn’t had a chance to get out on the golf course like we want to, and that showed there, but as the weather turns we’ll be able to continue to get the work in that needs to be done and I expect us to better.”
College of Charleston, which hosted the event, placed first with a score of 281-301-278=860.
The women’s golf team will play next at the UNF Collegiate in Jacksonville, Florida, on Monday, March 9, and Tuesday, March 10.
Milkman looks forward to the Racers getting to test their skills against new competition.
“I’m excited about it,” Milkman said. “It’s a quick turnaround. We leave Friday, but it’s good. We need to keep playing in competition. That’s one thing that we hadn’t had a chance to do. We learned a lot from this trip, and we’re excited about the opportunity to go out and get better next week.”
