By Lohan Sutton
The No. 20-ranked Tennessee women’s golf team went toe-to-toe this weekend with six of the nation’s top 30 teams at the Clemson Invitational.
The Lady Vols squad got off to a slow start in the opening round, coming in even-par.
The freshman from Thailand, Kaopan Thapasit, set the pace coming in with an opening round of 1-under-par. Followed up by two even-par rounds by Madison Messimer and Sofie Engesaeth. Senior Manassanan Chotikabhukkana rounded out the team score with her opening round of 1-over-par.
After day one, the Lady Vols sat in the middle of a stacked leaderboard. The opening round was dominated by Vanderbilt’s squad with a 13-under-par, led by senior Lynn Lim’s 9-under-par, 63.
Day two saw a better charge from the Lady Vols, with Kyra Van Kan coming in a 3-under-par and Messimer adding a 2-under-par to help Tennessee climb the leaderboard.
The squad would ultimately finish the day 2-over-par on the day, which was strong enough to move up, as only two teams finished the round under-par.
The Commodores stumbled in round two, finishing the day 7-over-par and giving the lead to No. 4-ranked Florida, followed by No. 8 Arkansas.
Round three would be the best for the Lady Vols, closing the tournament with a 3-under-par and sealing a hard-fought fourth-place finish.
Despite a tough battle at the top of the leaderboard, Florida would hold off Arkansas by one stroke.
Team Leaderboard:
1. Florida, -17
2. Arkansas, -16
3. Vanderbilt, -4
4. Tennessee, -1
5. Ohio State, +2
6. Michigan State, +10
7. Kent State, +13
8. Virginia Tech, +15
T9. UNCW, +17
T9. Ole Miss, +17
11. Clemson, +18
12. Maryland, +26
13. Princeton, +28
14. LSU, +29
15. Miami, +31
16. Charleston, +36
Van Kan closed out the tournament with a bogey-free final round of 4-under-par to clinch her fourth top-five finish this season, including one win and a runner-up finish.
Messimer finished her tournament with a 1-under-par and 3-under-par for the tournament, jumping into a tie for seventh. This is her sixth top-10 on the season, including a third-place, runner-up, and win in her debut season.
Lady Vol Leaderboard:
T5. Kyra Van Kan, -4
T7. Madison Messimer, -3
T25. Kaopan Thapasit, +3
T42. Manassanan Chotikabhukkana, +6
T51. Sofie Engesaeth, +9
With the regular season finale on the horizon, the Lady Vols have one more chance to build momentum before the SEC Championship.Up Next: Tennessee tees off once again at the Huntington Bank Collegiate, April 6-7 at Trinity Forest Golf Course in Dallas, Texas.