By Tom Waddill
The Lady Hornets got off to a slow start in the first round of the Huntsville Girls Fall Classic on Friday at Raven Nest.
Senior Madison Ward shot an 85 for Huntsville, but she was the only player on the varsity team to turn in a score in the 80s. Leslie Beaird shot a 93, Lindsey Lunceford struggled to a 95, Jesse Oden turned in a 96 and Lauren Rogers shot 105.
Huntsville starts today’s second and final round in eighth place in the team standings, with a score of 369.
The Woodlands’ No. 1 team is first at 322. Montgomery No. 1 is hot on the Lady Highlanders’ heels at 324. Magnolia is third at 329, The Woodlands’ No. 2 is fourth at 335 and College Park sits fifth at 341.
Huntsville golf coach Marcus Evans said his girls made too many mistakes that added up on them in the end.
“It wasn’t horrible by any means, but we gave away a lot of shots on the greens today,” Evans said. “We putted poorly and we also didn’t play consistently in that we blew some holes up and made some big numbers.”
Playing in the No. 1 slot, Ward played a gritty round Friday.
“Madison scratched and clawed for her 85,” Evans said. “She didn’t have her ‘A’ swing and she struggled with her putter. But overall she managed her game well.”
Lunceford, the Lady Hornets’ No. 2 player, was cruising along through the first eight holes. She ran into trouble on No. 9 and couldn’t shake her problems on the back side.
“Lindsey started out playing the best of all our girls,” Evans said. “I was really pleased with her opening nine.
“Something happened to her on the back, and she admitted after the round that it was mainly mental. She lost her focus and her concentration.”
Lunceford doubled Nos. 10 and 11, then she had a triple bogey on the par-4 12th hole.
“All that good work she had done on the front nine went up in smoke,” Evans said. “I’m confident she’ll come back with a much better round tomorrow.”
The Lady Hornets’ junior varsity team starts teeing off at 8 a.m. today, while Rogers leads the varsity group out on the course starting at 8:40.
