By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Not one, but two first-place finishes were in store for the Tennessee Tech women's golf team Tuesday afternoon, as the Golden Eagles won the Starmount Forest Fall Classic by a convincing 10 strokes.
Tech entered the final round of play with a commanding 13-stroke advantage and used that lead to wrap up the two-day event with a 913 overall, the fourth-lowest output in program history. The tournament win marked the first for the Golden Eagles since taking the championship at the inaugural Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate in March of 2013.
The Tech five were led behind a career effort from Hollee Sadler, who took home individual medalist honors in the 65-player field. The sophomore carded a career-best 74-72-73=219 to defeat Winthrop's Ashley Sloup by a full three strokes.
Sadler also took home All-Tournament honors and was joined on the All-Tournament team by senior Golden Eagle, Whitney Robertson. The veteran posted scores of 77, 73 and 74 for a 224 overall, placing fourth among the 65 participants to attack Starmount Country Club.
Junior Allyson Dunn cracked the top-15, tying for 11th overall after turning in a 232 backed by rounds of 74, 78 and 80. Rounding out the scoring for the Golden Eagles was redshirt freshman Shelby Johnson, whose 81-74-83=238 landed her in the top-25.
Sophomore Lindsay Miller completed the Tech squad's starting five for the weekend, putting together an 82-79-83=244 in her first action of the fall.
"I couldn't be happier for the women," head coach Polk Brown said. "It's an exciting time for them to pull off the victory today. We built a big lead yesterday and it was definitely interesting to see how they handled it. We got off to a little bit of a slow start, but they did an excellent job of hanging in there and finishing off strong in the end.
"They work really hard and they deserve it. Holly and Whitney played fantastic and it was just an overall great team effort. I'm just so proud of all of them and am looking forward to getting back out and going after another title."
Sadler's 54-hole score of 219 marked the third-lowest in program history, falling just a stroke shy of the record of 218 set by former Golden Eagle Megan Williamson back in 2014 and tied by Robertson in 2015. She also represents the first Tech medalist since Maddi Everts took first place at the F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate in the fall of 2014.
Robertson notched her second score of 224 on the year, giving her a whopping eight of the program's 15 lowest rounds in school history.
The Golden Eagles will look to make it two in a row when they return to the links for the Golden Eagle Jam in Hattiesburg, Miss. from Oct. 10-11.
Top photo by Rob Schabert, other photos courtesy of Carla Hazelwood, Assistant Golf Coach
