NC State women’s golf concluded the fall portion of its schedule, placing sixth at the Landfall Tradition in Wilmington, North Carolina. The tournament had a field of 17 teams, including national contenders such as UNC-Chapel Hill, Ole Miss and Duke. NC State finished at 8-over par — 10 strokes behind first-place Florida State.
Senior Lauren Olivares Leon led the Pack throughout the tournament, finishing tied for first at 6-under par and only carding four bogeys. As the field struggled on Sunday with uncomfortable weather conditions, Olivares thrived, shooting 1-under par on the day to climb from fifth to first. This marks Olivares’s third co-championship in collegiate play.
Freshman Marie Eline Madsen’s stellar round of 3-under par on Saturday helped her place in a tie for seventh at 1-under par. In her freshman campaign, Madsen has looked very impressive as she has yet to finish a collegiate tournament over par. Out of 11 competition rounds, she has recorded five in the 60s.
Senior Caitlin Whitehead finished the tournament at 7-over par after struggling on Sunday. At the conclusion of round two, she was tied at 29th with a score of 1-over par, but a 6-over Sunday round pushed her down the leaderboard to a tie at 42.
Sophomore Ellise Rymer had a rough start to the tournament shooting 6-over par on Friday, but righted the ship with consecutive rounds of 2-over par on Saturday and Sunday.
Junior Vania Simont recorded a solid round of 2-over par on Saturday, and two of her rounds contributed to the 6th-place finish of the team. Simont found the par 3’s challenging, playing them at 6-over par and preventing her from a much better score.
As a team, the Wolfpack led the field in par 4 scoring for the tournament, playing the par 4’s at just 8-over-par — five strokes better than the second-place team. NC State struggled on par 5s, playing them at 2-over — 18 strokes behind first.
The weather made a demonstrable impact on Sunday as average scores for teams saw an increase of eight strokes. The average team score for Friday and Saturday was 292, while the average team score for Sunday was 300. Players teed off at 8:45 a.m., facing temperatures in the high 50s with a steady drizzle — not ideal conditions for low scoring.
NC State will not see action again until Jan. 31- Feb. 1 at the Collegiate Invitational at Guadalajara Country Club in Guadalajara, Mexico. Last year, the Pack placed eighth out of a field of 12 teams.
