The men’s and women’s golf teams have started their seasons out strong.
“The Lady Bisons have played in three tournaments thus far and our scores have gotten lower each time,” women’s head coach Christy Morgan said. “I think we are starting to put the pieces together to make a great run in the spring.”
The Lady Bisons matched the best round in program history to finish sixth at the University of Central Oklahoma Classic on Oct. 2. Harding broke the school record for a two-round tournament with a score of 601, which was seven strokes better than the previous record of 608, also set at the UCO Classic in 2011.
Senior So-Yun Kim shot her second career round of par or better to finish with a school record, tying the two-round score of 147. Kim placed ninth, which was her 14th career top-10 finish.
“We broke our season record so far and we all played really well,” sophomore Brittany Marquez said. “Yo-ni Shaw shot one of her lowest rounds, a 71, and I think we all just thought it was a good tournament overall.”
At the Lady Bisons’ first tournament of the season on Sept. 18, Marquez fired her second straight round of par or better and won the Northeastern State University Golf Classic.
“The amazing thing about this team is that there are only four players,” Morgan said. “Golf teams are usually composed of five. At tournaments you keep your four best scores and throw out your highest one. We have been very blessed that when one of our teammates is down, another one seems to pick up the slack for the others.”
The Bisons finished eighth out of 18 teams with a two-round score of 617 at the Northeastern State University Golf Classic on Sept. 25. Harding’s top finisher was junior Lucas Collins, who placed eighth with a three-over 147. It was Collins’ highest career placement and his third top-10 finish.
“We played really well in Oklahoma despite some tough weather conditions; the winds were blowing about 35 miles per hour as it usually does in Oklahoma,” head men’s coach Dustin Howell said.
Junior Jordan Perry was the next highest finisher for the Bisons. He shot 11-over 155 and tied for 38th. He said they played well as a team and it was a good tournament to start out with.
Three freshmen competed alongside Collins and Perry to round out the five-man team. They also represented Harding at the Indian Bayou Classic in Destin, Fla., on Oct. 8-9 and tied for fifth place out of 10 teams.
Both the Bisons and Lady Bisons will compete at the Bison Fall Classic in Cabot, Ark., on Oct. 15-16. The tournament will be held at the Greystone Country Club. Tee off will be at 8 a.m. on both days.
