Senior Delaney Howson led the women’s golf team to a second-place finish and clenched her second medalist honor of the season at the Austin Peay State University Intercollegiate Tuesday.
Wednesday, Howson was also named the OVC Golfer of the Week for her second time this season.
With an impressive 4-under-par finish at Clarksville Country Club in Clarksville, Tenn., Howson accomplished multiple feats over the two-day tournament.
During the first round on Monday, she not only tied for the tournament’s record-low round, but also broke the school record – a record that she set last month at the Drake Creek Invitational.
“It’s kind of cool to have records and knowing that all the other girls will try to beat that, but individual stuff in a team sport isn’t really something that you try to focus on,”?Howson said. “Obviously I want all the girls to beat it if it’s going to help our team.”
Head Coach Velvet Milkman said she was proud of the performance.
“I’m very happy for her,” she said. “You know winning a golf tournament’s very difficult, and her round yesterday was phenomenal.”
The Racers lost to Jacksonville State by one stroke, finishing with a score of 608.
“Losing by one stroke is always tough,” Howson said. “It’s definitely motivation to keep working harder and maybe stay a little more focused at practice.”
Milkman took three individuals to compete in the tournament. She said with young team members, they need more experience.
“Anytime that they can play in competition, they learn things,” Milkman said. “I saw a lot of positives, and I was able to pinpoint some things that need to be worked on as well.”
Howson said she has come a long way since being in her teammates’ position.
“It’s obviously something you work toward over your four years here, and this is the most comfortable I’ve felt playing, ever,” Howson said. “It’s all the work we’ve put in the last three years that made it easier this semester.”
The Racers travel to Murfreesboro, Tenn., next Monday for their final tournament of the fall season.
“Obviously we want to end on a positive note next week,”?Milkman said. “Off-season is the time to get stronger. We’ll break each player’s fall season down and focus on what they need to work on, and that’ll be different with every player.”
Story by Mallory Tucker, Staff Wrtier