It was close. Oh so very close for the 20th-ranked Chattanooga Mocs Saturday afternoon at the Mason Rudolph Championships. The Mocs improved on yesterday by four strokes with 295, but it looked like it was going to be much better.
Dorota Zalewska’s birdie on eight and par on nine gave her the low round of 70, 2 under. It was an impressive finish on the holes ranked 1st (9) and 5th (8) hardest on the course. The rest of the counters played them at 4 over going from 3 over and hoping for something special to the 7 over finish.
“We weren’t able to hole putts today,” Coach Colette Murray shared.
“We still feel there is a good round for us out there. Hopefully, we play the way we are capable of tomorrow.”
Esme Hamilton added 1-over 73 with 76s from Beatriz Barrios and Carolina Hortian rounding out the 295. Megan Docherty had the drop tally of 78. Chattanooga’s two-day total of 594 sits in 13th, 11 behind Louisville and Northwestern tied in 11th. The Mocs are three in front of Mississippi State and Middle Tennessee tied for 14th with 597.
Hamilton is tied for 28th overall with 1-over 145. That’s four better than Zalewska’s 149. Barrios is one behind her at 150 followed by Hortian (153) and Docherty (154).
First day leader Oregon remains in front with 559. That’s four ahead of Alabama in second at 563. The Ducks’ Hsin-Yu Lu is atop the individual leaderboard at 134.
The Mocs come back to the tee at 10:25 a.m., Eastern time, Sunday. They play with Mississippi State and Middle Tennessee. Docherty leads ahead of Hortian (10:35), Barrios (10:45), Zalewska (10:55) and Hamilton (11:05).