Owensboro, Ky. - The University of Findlay women's golf team concluded the stroke play portion of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Championship on Friday, April 26. The event is being held at the 5,913 yard, par 72, Pearl Club - which serves as Kentucky Wesleyan's home course.
Yesterday, the Oilers put together rounds of 296 and 297 to hold a 24-shot lead over Ashland University which sat in second place. On Friday, Findlay stretched that lead further, posting a 288 (E) to finished the 54-hole stretch with a score of 881 (+17), 45 shots clear of the Eagles. Their score of 881 is the second-best 54-hole performance by the Oilers at the G-MAC Championship in program history.
It is also the seventh consecutive year that the Oilers have had the conference tournament medalist, a streak that dates back to 2017 when Mackenzie Torres won the individual title in Findlay's final season in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).
Entering play today, Findlay had four players in the top-ten of the event, but by the end of play on Friday, that had improved to four players in the top five.
Leading the way was the pre-tournament favorite, junior
Mary Kelly Mulcahy, who continued her historic season, winning the individual G-MAC title, her first-ever conference championship victory and her seventh win of the season. M. Mulcahy had to chase down senior teammate
Gabby Woods, who was tied with Mulcahy at even-par for the overnight lead.
M. Mulcahy bogeyed her first two holes of the day to move to +2 for the event while Woods made birdie on the second hole to take a three-shot lead. M. Mulcahy steadied the ship as both players went out in 35 (-1) to remain tied atop the leaderboard with nine holes to play.
"I made a couple mistakes on my first two holes, but I knew there were birdies out there", said Mulcahy following her round.
"I knew that I stuck to my plan and...stayed confident and patient that I would make putts eventually."
Woods, who is a two-time G-MAC individual champion, stumbled on the 13th hole where she found trouble, leading to a double bogey. M. Mulcahy made birdie on three of her final five holes to earn the win as the duo would finish in the top two spots; M. Mulcahy with scores of 72, 72, 70 - 214 (-2) and Woods with scores of 71, 73, 73 - 217 (+1).
After the round, Woods, who led the field in Par 5 scoring at -5 for the event, said, "Coming in, we knew that we could do what we did today, but every week I'm proud of the team, no matter the outcome. I'm happy for everyone on the team...and we've done a lot of great things so far, and we're not done."
Junior
Erin Mulcahy also played well for the Oilers, placing fourth on the individual leaderboard, her highest finish at the conference championship of her career. E. Mulcahy, who was third in the field in Par 3 scoring at just +1 for the tournament, had rounds of 74, 75, 76 (+4) to finish with a 225 (+9).
Rounding out players that finished in the top five was freshman
Ashleigh Duflo. She finished fifth after posting her best round of the event, a final-round 71 (-1) that moved her up five spots for her overnight position of tenth. Duflo's 71 was tied for the second-best 18-hole score of the tournament.
Also climbing five spots was sophomore
Hayley Dye who finished in a tie for tenth, also posting her best round of the week in the final round. Her 74 (+2) gave her a 54-hole score of 233 (+17).
Findlay now turns its' attention to Saturday's final where the Oilers will take on the Ashland Eagles in medal match play for the conference championship crown. The two teams will send players out one at a time, competing head-to-head against eachother. The player with the lowest score wins the match and secures a point for her team and the team who wins the most matches, wins the G-MAC title.
