Scots in the Hunt After Record-Smashing Opening Day at NCAC Championships

WESTFIELD CENTER, Ohio – Three Fighting Scots carded or matched their collegiate-bests, putting The College of Wooster women's golf team in position to challenge for its first-ever North Coast Athletic Conference title. Wooster's 299 – the program's lowest round by eight strokes – has the Scots four strokes behind frontrunning Denison University with two rounds remaining at this year's conference championships.

Senior Melissa Burtscher matched her program-record 72 and is tied for second-place individually. Burtscher logged her first 72 since carding that score at Transylvania University's Fall Invitational as a sophomore. It is Burtscher's low round of the year by four strokes. Wooster's No. 1 shot even par from hole four onward, rolling in birdies on the par-3, 129-yard 11th hole, the par-5, 411-yard 16th hole, and the par-5, 495-yard 18th hole. She played 13 holes at par or better.

Junior Ally Siewert lowered her collegiate-best for the second straight round, this time to a 74, and that score is tied for fourth-place. Siewert, one of three Scots to shoot 74 or better in a round this spring, carded her third eagle in collegiate competition on No. 16. She played the last five holes at 3-under-par, matching Burtscher with a birdie on No. 18. For the day, Siewert was at par or better on 12 holes.

First-year Morgan Erdmann continued to find success at Westfield, where she shot her then-collegiate-best 77 in the fall. Friday's score was one better, and the 76 ranks ninth in the field. Erdmann turned it on come the back nine, playing holes 10 through 16 at 1-under-par. A birdie went down on No. 11 and that helped the first-year shoot even par for the back nine. She had an earlier birdie drop at the par-4, 315-yard sixth hole.

Senior Grace Lindgren is tied for 10th-place after an opening-round 77. The senior's strong back nine enabled Wooster to close the gap with Denison, as she shot 2-over-par. Lindgren went 1-under-par over the final three holes with a birdie dropping on the par-4, 351-yard 17th hole. She pared two of the three par-5 holes and two of the three par-3 holes on Westfield's par-70, 5,528-yard back nine.

First-year Abby Haywood sits just outside the top-15 at 81. Haywood's birdie on No. 16 helped the Scots play that short par-5 at 4-under-par, and every Scot shot par or better on it. Haywood logged four pars in a span of five holes around Friday's turn.

Wooster's record 299 is nine strokes ahead of third-place DePauw University. The Tigers' Becky Williams leads the field individually after a 1-under-par 69.

Wooster's previous team-best was a 307 from the third round of Transylvania's fall tournament in 2022.

Saturday's tee times start at noon and Wooster is in wave two, which tees off at approximately 12:45 p.m. The women will start Saturday's round on the back nine.