ACWORTH, Ga. — On Monday afternoon, No. 25 Milligan University's women's golf program finished up round one after running out of daylight yesterday, and completed round two at the AAC/NAIA Direct Qualifier at the Governors Towne Club. Coming into the day, the squad sat in fourth place on the leaderboard, but after a solid outing the Buffs moved into third, three strokes ahead of fourth-place Pikeville. Individually, Mallory TeVrucht was striping the ball to move into the top five, while Bailey McGhaha breezed through the course to move into the top 10.

TeVrucht was consistent on the front nine, carding six pars and a birdie to make the turn with a one-over-par 37. She was on another level attacking pins on the back nine, collecting four birdies and four pars on the way to a three-under-par 33. Her lone blemish on the scorecard on the second nine was a bogey on the challenging par-four 18th. Nonetheless, her two-under-par 70 was the lowest score from the field and moved her up the leaderboard to fifth place.

McGhaha made a difficult front nine look easy, playing the first eight holes two-under before double-bogeying the par-three ninth to move back to even par. On the back nine, she started with back-to-back birdies before turning in a one-over-par 37 effort. Overall, she finished with a one-over-par 73 to move into eighth on the leaderboard, poised to make a run at NAIA qualification in the third and final round.

Catalina Easley finished round two in the top 20 at 15th place on the leaderboard, after a strong round two performance. She managed the front nine with consistent play that included seven pars. However, she recorded a seven on the fourth, a par four that was the number one handicap and was playing 1.8 strokes over par on average, setting her back. She bounced back to put together a two-over-par score on the back to finish six-over-par at 78 for the round.

Tessa Wilck started the day by playing four-over-par on the front nine before shooting the exact same score on the back, recording a total of 80 strokes to finish eight-over-par. She currently sits in 17th place on the leaderboard.

Rounding out the Milligan effort was Madison Butler in 19th place. She recorded a four-over-par 40 on the first nine, but struggled on the second nine, going eight-over-par to finish at 14-over-par overall on the day.

The Buffs will return to the course tomorrow, April 28, for the third and final round with a top-three team spot and two individuals in the top 10. They will need a first or second-place team finish to qualify for the NAIA National Tournament, while the individuals will need a first-place finish to qualify. The Buffs are currently 11 shots back of second-place Truett-McConnell, who sits at +45 as a team.

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