Wingate Wins 2018 SAC Women's Golf Championship
The 15th-ranked Bulldogs earned the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships.
ELGIN, S.C. – Wingate matched its own tournament-low score with a final-round 312 on Tuesday (April 17) at The Members Club at Woodcreek, running away from the field to win the 2018 South Atlantic Conference Women's Golf Championship by 26 strokes.
The 15th-ranked Bulldogs, who earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Women's Golf Championships, won their fourth-ever SAC Championship and first since 2014. Wingate also captured the conference crown in 2002 and 2008.
The Bulldogs' 26-stroke margin of victory was the biggest in the SAC Championship since Wingate's 44-shot win over second-place Tusculum in 2008.
Wingate placed three individuals in the top five, including individual medalist Mind Puangcharoen. The sophomore shot 77 on each of the first two days and finished off the tournament with a 78 to claim a wire-to-wire, one-shot victory at 16 over.
Fellow Bulldogs Laura Nunez and Diana McDonald each tied for fourth place at 20 over par with identical 78's in the final round, giving Wingate three of five first-team all-tournament team members.
Cameryn Smith of Queens nearly forced a playoff on the final hole but came up one shot shy, finishing second overall to Puangcharoen. Kate Hill of Anderson finished in third place three shots out of the lead with a final-round 80 that included birdies on three of four holes on the back nine.
Queens finished second overall 102 strokes over par, eight shots clear of a hard-charging Lenoir-Rhyne team that leapt from eighth to third with a 313 on the final day. Lincoln Memorial moved from sixth to fourth at 111 over, while Anderson and Carson-Newman were deadlocked in fifth place one shot further back and one shot ahead of seventh-place Tusculum. In all, five schools finished the tournament between 110 and 113 strokes over par.
Wingate, along with any schools selected to the NCAA Championships, will travel to the South Super Regional May 7-9 at the Germantown Country Club just east of Memphis, Tennessee.
2018 SAC Women's Golf Championship Medalist
Mind Puangcharoen, Wingate
2018 SAC Women's Golf First-Team All-Tournament
Mind Puangcharoen, Wingate
Cameryn Smith, Queens
Kate Hill, Anderson
Diana McDonald, Wingate
Laura Nunez, Wingate
2018 SAC Women's Golf Second-Team All-Tournament
Elizabeth England, Carson Newman
Katie Tomassoni, Tusculum
Cydney Murrell, Tusculum
Angela Luna, Coker
Abigail Evans, Lincoln Memorial
Abbey Hartsell, Lenoir-Rhyne
