Colwill in Top Five at UCF Challenge

Sunday, February 4

Orlando, Fla.

University of Memphis

UCF Challenge

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Feb 04, 2018 | Women's Golf

Team tied for eighth following day one 300.

By: Tammy DeGroff

MEMPHIS – Junior women's golfer Sydney Colwill fired a 71 on Sunday in the opening round of the UCF Challenge at Eagle Creek Golf Club and is tied for fourth at the end of day one.

Colwill had gotten to three under with birdies on 16, 4 and 8 after starting the day on hole 13. Heading to the ninth hole, Colwill carded her only bogey of the day, a triple, pushing her back to even. But the junior, who won her last tournament out in Hawaii in November, bounced back with a birdie on 11 to finish at one under on the day and regain momentum heading to Monday's second round.

As a team, Memphis had pushed as high as third in the standings in the opening round, but finished the day tied for eighth as the final holes of the day pushed the remaining Tigers over par, posting a team score of 300, just seven strokes behind the lead of Iowa State and East Carolina.

Emily Goldenstein and Michaela Fletcher each carded a 76 (+4) and are tied for 34^th overall heading in to Monday's second round. Madison Thomas is a stroke back after an opening round 77 (T-50^th), while Abby Herrmann scored an 80 and will work from her T-76^th spot on Monday morning.

East Carolina's Dorthea Forbrigd leads the field following her first round 69 while Miami's Renate Grimstad and UCF's Kaeli Jones are tied for second following opening round 70s.

Iowa State and East Carolina share the day one lead following a team 293, while Miami is two strokes back at 295. Wisconsin and Tulane are tied for fourth with a day one 297, while Auburn and UCF at tied for sixth at 299. Memphis and Texas Tech are a stroke off that following 300s on day one and fellow American Athletic Conference member SMU is 10^th with a day one 301.

Memphis will again go off holes 13-15 on Monday for the second round, which tees off at 8:45 am (ET). The Tigers will be teamed with players from UNC Wilmington and individual entries from Miami, Penn State, Vanderbilt and Iowa State.

Live scoring will be available from www.GolfStatResults.com.