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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Mercedes Benz Collegiate Championship
Hermansson in Seventh, Rebels 11th After Day 1 in Tennessee
9/12/2016 | Women's Golf
The Ole Miss women's golf team had an up-and-down first day to its 2016-17 season, shooting a collective 17-over par to take 11th place after 36 holes of the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship.
The Rebels were off to a strong start, climbing to the top of the team leaderboard early in the day in Knoxville, Tenn. But a few mistakes compiled as the day rolled on, which head coach Kory Henkes hopes to clean up during the final 18 holes tomorrow at Cherokee Country Club.
"We started out strong today and everything was looking promising, then we just had a few mental errors that caused some costly mistakes, which were unfortunate," Henkes said. "When we're playing at this level against this kind of competition, you can't afford to make those kind of mistakes, so we've got to get better at that moving forward."
Individually, true freshman Pi-Lillebi Hermansson turned in a stellar start to her collegiate career. The Djursholm, Sweden native paced the Rebels, shooting a 1-over par 72 in Round 1 and a 1-under par 70 in Round 2 to land in seventh place on the leaderboard going into the final 18 holes.
"Pi had a great first two rounds of her college career," Henkes said. "She fought back really hard in that second round. She had a few bogeys early on, but didn't let that get to her, and really hung in there and made some really good birdies down the stretch. So we're extremely proud of Pi. I think this is only the beginning. I think there's a lot of golf ahead of her in her future."
Hermansson totaled seven birdies on the day-four in the first round and three in the second-and closed the day with a birdie on the Par 5 11th hole.
"I haven't competed in this heat before," said Hermansson. "So I just focused on drinking a lot of water and taking it one shot at a time. I reached several par 5s in two shots and gave myself a lot birdie chances."
Junior Laura Hoskin was second on the squad at 72-75-147, tying her for 35th. The Arrowtown, New Zealand native led all Rebels with 26 pars on the day-good for fifth in the tournament field. Sophomore Martina Flori wasn't far behind with 24 pars. The sound performance has her tied for 48th (72-77-149).
Another newcomer, Mercer University transfer Katy Harris, was second among the Ole Miss quintet with six birdies. The junior encountered trouble on the fourth hole in the first round, hitting three shots out of bounds, but she recovered remarkably with four pars and a birdie over the next five holes.
She kept it going with the team's second best score, a 73, in the second round. The next time around, she switched up her approach and made par on that troublesome fourth hole. Overall, her performance was indicative of that of her team's: a great round if not for a few miscues.
"It was an extremely costly mistake, but other than that, she played a great first round at even par," Henkes said. "Unfortunately, you count all of your shots and make them all count, so we're going to do our best to come back tomorrow and minimize the mistakes and give it another go and finish with a great round tomorrow."
The Rebels tee off at 8 a.m. CT tomorrow for the final 18-hole round.
Team Standings
1. Illinois: 278-285-563
2. Kent State: 286-283-569
3. Florida: 281-289-570
4. Maryland: 285-290-575
T5. Brigham Young: 292-284-576
T5. Tennessee: 282-294-576
7. Southern Methodist: 294-284-578
8. North Carolina: 296-284-580
T9. Chattanooga: 295-289-584
T9. Wake Forest: 293-291-584
11. Ole Miss: 290-295-585
12. Middle Tennessee: 302-297-599
13. Memphis: 302-298-600
14. UT-San Antonio: 302-302-604
15. Virginia Tech: 310-296-606
Ole Miss Players
T7. Pi-Lillebi Hermansson: 72-70-142
T35. Laura Hoskin: 72-75-147
T48. Martina Flori: 72-77-149
T51. Katy Harris: 77-73-150
T63. Maria Toennessen: 74-79-153
For all Ole Miss women's golf news and information, go to OleMissSports.com, and follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissWGolf and Facebook at Ole Miss Women's Golf.
Players Mentioned
