KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – With strong weather conditions in South Carolina, the FGCU women's golf team struggled during the first day of the Edwin Watts Kiawah Island Spring Classic Sunday at Oak Point Golf Club.  In the first of three rounds, the Eagles carded a team score of 325 (+37) to rank 27th of the field's 40 teams.
 
FGCU saw consistent scores as all five players recorded scores within six stokes of each other. However, no Eagle broke 80 as the team ranked in the bottom half in the unprecedentedly large field.
 
"Today was a tough day," said head coach Sarah Trew. "The weather was cold and rainy and we allowed ourselves to focus on things we couldn't control before the round even started. We got distracted and were unable to regroup and focus on the task at hand. The good news is we have a couple of days to regroup. Conditions on the course were certainly not ideal but it is important to play in elements we are not used to to push us outside our comfort zone and help us improve. We are competing in this event to get better and I am confident this group will improve."
 
The Eagles' team score sits 28 strokes behind tournament leader and Atlantic Sun foe North Florida and 14 strokes out of the top 10. After UNF's score of 297, Troy and Chattanooga hold the second and third positions, with scores of 298 and 299, respectively, while host College of Charleston and Western Carolina stand in a tie for fourth at 300. Stetson, Samford, Elon, Jacksonville and SCAD Savannah round out the top 10, all with scores at 311 or better.
 
Georgia Price (Bude, England/Fort Myers High School) and Madison Easterbrook (Burlington, Ontario/Aldershot High School) led the Green and Blue, both with scores of 80 in the first round of play. The duo sits tied for 75th in the field of over 200 golfers.
 
Mei Khuan Yong (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia/S.M.K. Cochrane High School) also stands among the top 100 with a score of 81, while Sara Detlefsen rounded out the team's contributors with a score of 84.
 
As the team's fifth participant, Rebecca VanEtten (Trinity, Fla./J.W. Mitchell High School) carded a score of 86 at the Oak Point Golf Club.
 
The team will play the second round of the Edwin Watts Kiawah Island Spring Classic Monday, Mar. 2 at the Osprey Point Golf Club.  Live scoring for the round will be available via GolfStat.com with complete results available at FGCUathletics.com following the round's completion.
 
 
COMPLETE RESULTS

1	North Florida	297	+9
2	Troy	298	+10
3	Chattanooga	299	+11
T4	College of Charleston	300	+12
T4	Western Carolina	300	+12
6	Stetson	303	+16
7	Samford	305	+17
8	Elon	306	+18
9	Jacksonville	310	+22
T10	SCAD – Savannah	311	+23
T10	Jacksonville St.	311	+23
12	Illinois State	312	+24
T13	Georgetown	314	+26
T13	William & Mary	314	+26
T13	So.Carolina Beaufort	314	+26
T16	Delaware	318	+30
T16	Boston College	318	+30
T16	Marshall	318	+30
T19	UNCG	319	+31
T19	Charleston Southern	319	+31
T19	Rutgers	319	+31
22	Western Kentucky	321	+33
23	South Alabama	322	+34
23	Towson	323	+35
T25	Boston University	324	+36
T25	Bethune-Cookman	324	+36
T27	FGCU	325	+37
T27	High Point	325	+37
29	Ball State	326	+38
T30	Seton Hall	328	+40
T30	Longwood	328	+40
T32	Richmond	330	+42
T32	Radford	330	+42
34	USC Upstate	331	+43
35	Loyola	339	+51
36	St. John's	340	+52
37	The Citadel	341	+53
38	Navy	351	+63
39	Presbyterian College	361	+73
40	Bucknell	363	+75

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

T75	Georgia Price	80	+8
T75	Madison Easterbrook	80	+8
T99	Mei Khuan Yong	81	+9
T141	Sara Detlefsen	84	+12
T159	Rebecca VanEtten	86	+14