Hawkins, Baiunco pace C-N at day two of SAC Championship
Carson-Newman’s women’s golf team remained in fourth place through round two of the South Atlantic Conference Women’s Golf Tournament. However, the Eagles were just one of two teams with multiple golfers who had sub-80 rounds.
Meridith Hawkins (Powell, Tenn.) and Danielle Baiunco (Melbourne, Fla.) shot twin 79s (+7) to become the only teammates outside of first place Newberry to shoot below 80 for the second round. The Eagles improved six strokes from day one to day two with a 328 – identical to second place Tusculum and third place LMU’s second round totals.
Hawkins has sixth place to herself and is five back of the leaders with a two-day 158 (+9).
Baiunco jumped up nine strokes, bouncing back from an 88 on day one. She knocked in a birdie on two before bouncing a chance for eagle from 150 yards out off the flagstick on the par five hole three to start her round with panache. She’s in a tie for 15th and nine behind Hawkins.
“The first day I just had a few high holes, today I didn’t have any doubles, just bogeys,” Baiunco said. “It was all about club choice and shot placement.”
Hawkins leads the tournament in birdies with six. She replicated her trifecta from the first round on day two.
“The greens were a little tough and if you don’t put it on the right levels you’re going to have some tough puts,” Hawkins said. “I noticed I had to club down a bit to avoid rolling off the backs of greens.”
All five of Carson-Newman’s golfers are in the top half of the leaderboard.
Mary Tunnell (Cordova, Tenn.) sits in a tie for 19th after an 87 (+15) and a two day total of 169 (+25). Chelsea Passmore follows her in 22nd after dropping five strokes from the first day to the second with an 83 (+11), while Lauren Hodge rounded things out for the Eagles with an 88 to tie for 25th. She’s at 173 (+29) for the event.
Passmore played the par threes on the course better than everyone than the Wolves’ Corey Coleman. Coleman was even-par while Passmore was plus two.
Carson-Newman is 25 strokes off tournament leader Newberry, 19 back of Tusculum and 16 behind LMU.
The Eagles tee off at 10 a.m. for the final round Tuesday. Live stats are available at birdiefire.com/sac.
