Madison Thomas Leads the Field at Moon Golf Invitational

Monday, February 19

Melbourne, FL

University of Memphis

Moon Golf Invitational

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Madison Thomas Leads the Field at Moon Golf Invitational

Feb 19, 2018 | Women's Golf

Moon Golf Combined (Day 1)

Memphis is fourth at the end of two rounds at Moon Golf Invitational.

By: Tammy DeGroff

MEMPHIS – Junior women's golfer Madison Thomas tied a career-low round to start the day and finished atop the individual leader board at the end of the first day of play at the Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne, Florida, Monday. Thomas opened the day with a 69 in the first round and her second round 71 kept her atop the leaderboard with a one stroke lead over four other golfers heading in to Tuesday's final round.

Thomas started the day by birdying three of her first four holes to go to -3 and push straight to the top of the leaderboard, and birdies on 15 and 16 helped her finish her opening nine holes at -5. Moving to the front side after starting on nine, Thomas bogeyed holes one and three, but sandwiched a birdie on two in there to remain at -4. She then bogeyed her second-to-last hole of the opening round to finish at -3 and tied for second at the end of one round.

In the second round, Thomas found bogeys on three holes on the opening eight holes, but birdied three of four holes (17, 1 and 2) to get back under par at -2. She hit par for the remaining six holes and her second round 71 gave her a day one 140.

Teammate Sydney Colwill is also in the top 20 at the end of day one. Colwill fired a 75 in the opening round, but shaved two strokes, including a birdie on her second-to-last hole of the day, to finish with a 73. Her 148 has her in a four-way tie for 17^th overall.

Senior Emily Goldenstein charged back from an opening round 82 with a season-best 69 in the second round, jumping 34 spots in the standings and heading in to the final round of play tied for 35^th overall with a day one 151. In round two, Goldenstein birdied three of her first five holes and hit her turn at -2. She then closed out with two birdies and a bogey in her final four holes for her lowest competitive round of the season.

Michaela Fletcher and Abby Herrmann rounded out the Memphis competitors in the event. Fletcher carded a 75 and a 78 for a day one 153 that has her tied for 44^th overall, while Herrmann went 78-77 to enter day two tied for 54^th overall at 155.

As a team, Memphis is fourth of 13^th teams at the end of day one. The Lady Tigers' 587 (297-290) puts them one stroke behind Old Dominion and seven behind Augusta. Number nine ranked Furman leads the team score at one under (575), five strokes ahead of Augusta's day one 580.

Thomas holds a one stroke advantage in the individual standings ahead of Augusta teammates Cecelia Diez-Moliner and Maggie Ashmore, Furman's Alice Chen and Chattanooga's Monica San Juan.

All 13 teams will go off at 8:45 am (ET), Tuesday, with a shotgun start. Tee times will be posted at www.results.golfstat.com when they are available.