Story by D.J. Pigg, Contributing writer
Murray State’s women’s golf team won the Chris Banister Championship for the second year in a row on Tuesday.
After breaking the team scoring record for the tournament in the first round with a 287, the Racers followed it up the next two days with rounds of 304-307 for a winning total of 898.
Linette Homslykke, junior from Vejle, Denmark, led the team with rounds of 74-75-71 for a 220 total that gave her a third place finish.
Homslykke was only one of four players that rounded out the top-ten individually. Lucila Puenta Rodriguez de Austria, sophomore from Sevilla, Spain, shot 67-79-71 for a fourth-place 221, Moa Folke, senior from Tranas, Sweden, who fired rounds of 76-72-81 for a ninth-place 229, and Anna Moore, senior from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, who played as an individual, shot 75-74-77 for a seventh place 226.
Head Coach Velvet Milkman felt good about the team’s victory.
“I’m very pleased with the win,” Milkman said. “That’s a very tough golf course, and it gives the girls some confidence going forward.”
The Racers have a week to improve on their winning performance before heading to Lexington, Kentucky on Oct. 8 to play in the University of Kentucky Invitational at the University Club. There, the Racers will get to see how their play matches up with SEC-caliber talent.
Coach Milkman said they aren’t going to focus so much on the next tournament being hosted by University of Kentucky, but prepare for it like any other tournament.
“We are going to focus on just practicing and getting better this week,” Coach Milkman said. “We’ve gotten better, but we can still improve.”
MEN’S GOLF
The Murray State men’s golf team traveled to Madison, Illinois to play in the Derek Dolenc Invitational at Gateway National Golf Links hosted by SIUE where they finished in 9th place.
The team was led by junior Gabe Wheeler from Sikeston, Missouri, who had rounds of 68-73-74 for a 215 total that left him with a 13th-place finish individually.
Head Coach Eddie Hunt said the Racers were battling heat during the first day in which they lost sophomore Austin Knight, from Hopkinsville, Kentucky, to illness.
“It was like a record high in temperature for St. Louis that first day, and we were out there from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.,” Hunt said. “Gabe played great for us. Unfortunately, Austin got sick after that first round, so we only had four guys to play with after that.”
The team finished in ninth place, carding rounds of 300-293-303 for an 896 total for the three rounds.
The men’s squad will be spending the rest of the week preparing for UT Martin’s Skyhawk Classic in Buchanan, Tennessee at Paris Landing State Park.