University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
Low Country Intercollegiate
Culler Leads Spartans at Low Country Intercollegiate
3/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Hilton Head Island, S.C. – USC Upstate standout freshman Payton Culler shot a 79 to lead the Spartan women's golf team in the first round of the Low Country Intercollegiate at the Moss Creek Plantation course Saturday afternoon.
Upstate was forced to play with just four players after Eden Howard fell ill and had to withdraw from the tournament leaving Upstate just four players with no margin of error.
Culler helped lead Upstate to a 326 in the first round. The Spartans counted the 79 from Culler, 81 from both Allea Hawkins and Rachel Reiling and an 85 from Sidney Dermody. The Spartans are ninth heading into Sunday's final round.
"I'm really proud of each player on our team and the way they responded to knowing every shot played would count," said Upstate head coach Todd Lawton. "Allea stepped into the lineup and did a great job playing competitively for us and our three regulars held their own. For the most part, we recovered from missed shots well and it was nice to have good putting stats on a course that has demanding greens. We are hoping for two things as well as good golf tomorrow. One is for Eden to get better quickly and the second is for no one else to get sick."
Princeton and host Wofford each opened with a 309 and share the team lead heading into the final round. High Point is third at 311 and is followed by SCAD-Savannah (313), Indiana State (315), Bethune-Cookman (315), Appalachian State (317), Gardner-Webb (323), Upstate (326), Radford (327), Towson (331), Presbyterian (338), The Citadel (339), Navy (342) and St. Francis-N.Y. (356). Princeton's Jordan Lippett owns the individual lead after shooting 73 Saturday.
Culler stands tied for 18th on the individual leaderboard, while Hawkins and Reiling are tied for 30th to give the Spartans three players in the Top 30. Culler birdied the 17th and made 11 pars on the day to finish with a 79. Hawkins had two birdies in her final five holes en route to her 81. She is playing in her first tournament of the spring. Reiling made par on her final five holes for her 81. Upstate finished with three birdies on the day.
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