Will Beverina | wbeverina@radford.edu
Radford women’s golf traveled down Ninety Six, S.C. at The Patriot at Grand Harbor course for the first round of the Big South Women’s Championship on Monday. The team finished ninth overall out of the nine teams participating.
The individual star on the day for the Highlanders was Khushboo Thiagaraj. The junior shot a three-over par 75 to finish the first round at 15th out of 45 golfers. Thiagaraj closed out the back nine strong with just one-over par during that stretch.
Olivia Jay, Morgan Cox and Kasidy Beckel all shot an identical 82 to tie at 36th with one other golfer. The senior, junior and sophomore, respectively, all shot 10-over par.
Junior Meagan Board was right behind the trio, shooting an 11-over par 83 to place 40th.
The combined efforts of the individual Highlanders gave Radford a team score of 321, just one shot behind Longwood in eighth place. Campbell placed first overall on the day with three Camels among the six best golfers. They enter the next rounds with a seven-stroke lead over Charleston Southern after shooting a team score of 289, just one-over par.
Gardner-Webb is in third place, just two strokes behind Charleston Southern, after shooting 298. Winthrop, Presbyterian, High Point and UNC Asheville trail behind, in order.
Desiree Andersson of Campbell, Shelby Thompson of Charleston Southern and Celia Mansour were the only golfers to finish under par. Andersson and Thompson are deadlocked atop the leaderboard with three-under par each, while Mansour is just behind in third place at one-under.
The Big South Women’s Championship will resume on Tuesday with round two before closing up the final round on Wednesday.