SARASOTA, Fla. – The FGCU women's golf team completed day one of competition in a three-way tie for ninth place at its final tournament of the fall, the Pat Bradley Invitational.
 
The Eagles carded a team score of 304 (+16) after the first round of play, which tied with Georgia State and UMKC in the 14-team field. FGCU sits seven strokes behind fellow ASUN member Jacksonville who finished the day in sixth with as score of 297. Host FIU currently sits on top the leaderboard with an even score of 288. WKU trails closely behind with 292, while Memphis and Southern Miss are tied in third with 293.
 
Senior Megan Blonien (Altus, Okla./Altus HS/Oklahoma State) led the Eagles with a team-best score of 72, marking her third par-or-better score in her last four rounds. Blonien will enter round two tied for 10th in a field of 81 golfers.
 
Junior Madison Easterbrook (Burlington, Ontario/Aldershot HS) finished her first round just one shot behind Blonien with a plus-one score of 73, which tied her for 19th in the field. Both Blonien and Easterbrook collected three birdies on day one.
 
"I am proud of the way Megan and Madison played today," said head coach Sarah Trew. "They were really solid the whole round, made smart decisions, and for the most part stayed pretty composed.  As a team we let some shots rattle us that normally don't. I think it started to snowball a bit for us. We know we are capable of good rounds at this course. We just need to be a little bit more patient and not worry so much about what happened on the previous hole or future holes. We just need to focus on the shot at hand."
 
Sophomore Madeline Marck-Sherk (Ridgeway, Ontario/Ridgeway Crystal Beach HS) and freshman Ailsa Clark (Navarre, Fla./Navarre HS) also finished within a shot of each other, carding scores of 79 (+7) and 80 (+8) respectively. Clark shot even on the front nine before experiencing setbacks on the back end. 
 
Jean Tyrrell (Leawood, Kan./Blue Valley North HS) competed individually in the tournament, recording a plus-nine score of 81, while rookie Kate Williamson (Deerfield Beach, Fla./Archbishop McCarthy HS) rounded out the lineup with a score of 83.
 
FGCU will look to improve its position in the second round of tournament, which begins on Monday at 8:15 a.m. The final round will be played on Tuesday and kicks off with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m.
 
FGCU LINEUP (*star indicates participating as an individual)
T10) Megan Blonien: 72 (E)
T19) Madison Easterbrook: 73 (+1)
T56) Madeline Marck-Sherk: 79 (+7)
T66) Ailsa Clark: 80 (+8)
T69) Jean Tyrrell: 81 (+9)*
78) Kate Williamson: 83 (+11)
 
COMPLETE FIELD
1) 77 FIU: 288 (E)
2) 115 WKU: 292 (+4)
T3) 125 Memphis: 293 (+5)
T3) 103 Southern Miss: 293 (+5)
5) 137 Toledo: 296 (+8)
6) 96 Jacksonville: 297 (+9)
7) 149 Eastern Michigan: 298 (+10)
8) 116 Morehead State: 302 (+14)
T9) 140 FGCU: 304 (+16)
T9) 156 Georgia State: 304 (+16)
T9 129 UMKC: 304 (+16)
12) 154 Marshall: 305 (+17)
13) 210 FAU: 310 (+22)
14) 205 Texas A&M Corpus Christi: 317 (+29)  
 
FOLLOW ALONG
For up-to-the minute information and a behind-the-scenes look at the FGCU women's golf program, follow on Twitter at @FGCU_WGolf and on Facebook at /FGCUWGolf.
 
HEAD COACH SARAH TREW
Head coach Sarah Trew recently is currently in her 6th season at the helm of the FGCU women's golf team after being named Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year in 2016. Trew took over in 2011 and has since guided the Eagles to the program's best-ever finish in the ASUN Tournament and to 20+ top-10 finishes. A year ago, Trew led the team to several records on and off the course. The 2013-14 squad set a new single-season scoring record with a team average of 307.88, while also setting a new benchmark academically. The spring of 2015 saw the Eagles again take third place at the A-Sun Championship, and recording their best team score of the season while 2016 again set a new standard. The 2015-16 squad recorded a new program best with a 305.29 average and took a second-place finish at the conference tournament. In that event, the Eagles carded a team score of 290 to set the program's new record and earned the top finish in program history.