North Carolina, Tennessee Lead Midway Through First Round

The Woodlands, Texas – North Carolina and Tennessee shared the lead midway through the first round Tuesday at the Women’s State Team Championship, which is being conducted on the Nicklaus Course at The Club at Carlton Woods.

Maggie Weder of North Carolina watches her drive off No. 18 Tuesday. (John Mummert/USGA)

On the par-72, 5,918-yard Jack Nicklaus design that opened in 2001, North Carolina was bolstered by Patty Moore’s 1-under 71 en route to team total 2-over 146. The 57-year-old Charlotte native bogeyed three of her first eight holes before settling down with three birdies on the back nine.

Thirty-three-year-old Dawn Woodard of Franklin, Tenn., had the morning’s best round, carding a 4-under 68 to help her squad equal North Carolina atop the team standings. Woodard had a chance to go lower but missed a 2 ½-foot comebacker on her final hole to record her only bogey.

“I putted extremely well,” said Woodard, the medalist at the 2006 Women's Mid-Amateur and Tennessee State Amateur champion this year. “I didn’t have anything I did poorly. I managed my game well.”

In the State Team Championships, only the two lowest scores among each squad are counted.

One of seven players to appear in every Women’s State Championship, Mary Jane Hiestand, 48, of Naples, Fla., was the only other player to shoot a red number. She registered a 2-under 70 to push Florida into third place with an aggregate 3-over 147.  Hiestand started out bogeying three of her first four holes. She finished on No. 18 with a 22-foot birdie, the fifth of her round.

“I hate to say this, but walking up the 18th fairway I thought about it being my chance for my first sub-par round in a USGA event,” said Hiestand.

Two-time USGA Senior Amateur champion Diane Lang, 52, of Weston, who is playing in her first Women’s State Team Championship, shot a 5-over 77 to have her score count with Hiestand’s. A victim of tricky greens, she felt as though she contributed enough to at least keep Florida in the hunt.

“If our team finishes in the top five, I’d say that’s pretty good,” said Lang.

Florida was followed by Alabama at 5-over 149, led by Courtney Trimble’s 2-over 144. The 27-year-old Trimble, a former Curtis Cupper and assistant women’s golf coach at Auburn University, made the turn two under par.

Three consecutive bogeys on Nos. 12-14 had the reinstated amateur tumbling and losing focus. That was until she nailed a clutch 24-foot birdie putt on No. 18 to at least walk off with something positive.

Asked how crucial it is for a team to score well in the first round, Trimble paused.

“I wouldn’t say you’d necessarily want to be in first, but you certainly don’t want to shoot yourself out of it,” said Trimble, who is from Auburn and played in the 2004 U.S. Women’s Open.

Defending champion Georgia had an afternoon tee time.

The USGA is the national governing body of golf in this country and Mexico, a combined territory that includes more than half the game’s golfers and golf courses.

The Association's most visible role is played out each season in conducting 13 national championships, including the U.S. Open, U.S. Women's Open and U.S. Senior Open. Ten additional USGA national championships are exclusively for amateurs, and include the Junior Amateur, the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Women's Amateur.

Story written by Ken Klavon, Web Editor for the USGA. E-mail him with questions or comments at kklavon@usga.org.