DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Coastal Carolina women's golf team shot a four-under 284 during Sunday's first round of the 2021 Sun Belt Conference Women's Golf Championship to finish the opening day of action in second place.
The Chants' four-under, 284 score is a school-record for an individual team round scored during a conference tournament. The previous record was 286 set during the second round of CCU's 2018 SBC championship season.
It was a strong run on the back nine that pushed the Chants' climb into second place. After finishing the opening nine holes at four-over, CCU went eight-under on the back nine to close to within five of the opening-day leader Texas State (279).
Leading the charge was
Sophia Carlsen and
Tiffany Arafi, who both finished tied for the overall lead after carding a three-under 69. Their scores are tied for the best-ever single round by a CCU golfer at the Sun Belt Conference Championship. The pair joined former Sun Belt Golfer of the Year Malene Krolboll Hansen who set the record twice during the 2018 Sun Belt Championship.
Carlsen started the day with a birdie on the first hole and then had a par on the next eight holes to shoot a 35 through nine. She started the back nine with another birdie on 10 before posting her only bogey of the day on hole 12. She finished the round with back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18 to complete a two-under 34 on the back nine.
Arafi missed the entire fall season and has slowly been working her way back into form. She is coming off her best tournament of the season at the ECU Easter Invite leading into the Sun Belt Championship. Her day did not start well as she had a double-bogey five on the par-three third hole. She rebounded nicely going five-under over the final 15 holes, which included an impressive four-under 32 on the back nine with birdies on holes 10, 12, 15, and 16.
Nicole Abelar and
Frantiska Lunackova finished the first round tied at 12th after each carded a one-over 73.
Lunakova's round did not start as she would have liked after posting a bogey on the first hole. She finished the first nine holes with a two-over 38 after another bogey on hole six. From there, the senior would go one-under on her final 12 holes of the round which included a birdie on the par-five 16th hole.
Abelar also started the round bogeying the first hole, and after a bogey on hole No. 7, she finished the front nine with a two-over 38. After four consecutive pars, Abelar picked up another bogey on the 12th hole before putting together a two-under run on the final six holes, which included back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15.
Caitlin Evans-Brand finished the day with an eight-over 80 in the first round to finish tied for 44th heading into the second round. She shot an even-par 36 on the opening nine holes, including back-to-back birdies on seven and eight, but was unable to keep that momentum going into the back nine.
The course played tough today as only opening-round leader Texas State (-9, 279) and CCU the only teams finished the day under par. Georgia Southern is in third after a four-over 292 and South Alabama is fourth after a seven-over 295. Arkansas State rounds out the top five after shooting a nine-over 297.
Tomorrow's second round action is set to tee off at 8 a.m. ET with the Chants opening second-round play at 8:45 a.m. on hole No. 1.
The second round can again be seen live on ESPN+ (subscription required) with live stats available at
www.GoCCUSports.com.
For complete coverage of CCU women's golf, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalWGolf (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram) or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUsports.com.
