Women’s golf wins first tournament of the year
Wake Forest got off to a hot start in tournament play placing first in the Palmetto Intercollegiate in South Carolina
The Wake Forest Women’s Golf Team, headlined by Rachel Kuehn, takes home the Palmetto Intercollegiate team title on Feb. 22 by a margin of 28 strokes.
March 4, 2021
Due to COVID-19 and ACC regulations, the discontinued fall 2020 season proved to be no problem for the Wake Forest women’s golf team, who was on fire during the Palmetto Intercollegiate.
Despite playing in the rain and howling wind, the women’s golf team managed to persevere — powering their way to a team win while clinching two of the top three individual spots, courtesy of sophomores Rachel Kuehn and Lauren Walsh.
The 28-stroke margin of victory over second-place Virginia was the largest in program history. With their final round 1-under score of 287, Wake Forest asserted dominance by being the only team to shoot even or under par in a single round. The team accomplished this in both the second and final rounds.
“This team has a lot of depth,” Wake Forest Head Coach Kim Lewellen stated following the tournament. “Any one of the players can step up and win an individual title, which makes for a strong Wake Forest team.”
Step up and win an individual title they did, with Walsh achieving her second straight runner-up finish with a 72 in the final round and a 1-over, 217 finish. The only person to place higher was Kuehn, who took home her second individual title after winning the ANIKA Intercollegiate in fall 2019. After carding birdies on her first two holes of the back nine, Kuehn shot even par the rest of the way to hold the top spot.
Lewellen also stated how thrilled she was with how the team competed.
“They work hard, they root for each other and are so excited to be back on the course after such a long sabbatical,” she said. “We are looking forward to a short turnaround and competing next week against another strong field at South Carolina.”
Senior Emilia Migliaccio played her best outing of the season, finishing in fifth place. After the first round, Migliaccio jumped 11 spots on the leaderboard, marking her best finish since March 2020, when she took home the individual title at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate.
Senior Siyun Liu finished in a tie for the No. 13 spot for the second consecutive time this spring, with her best score coming in the first round. Freshman Mimi Rhodes had her best performance of the event on the final 18, shooting even par to jump 13 spots on the board. After sitting tied for No. 38 after the first 36 holes, she finished the event tied for No. 25.
