Kentucky women’s golf fought hard at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate Tournament in Hilton head, South Carolina, but would eventually end the week in last place. 

To start the three-day golfing invitational, Kentucky was paired with Duke and Vanderbilt on Monday morning in attempts to exceed expectations after doing well in the Spartan Sun Coast Invitational just over two-weeks ago and the Paradise Invitational a month ago where it shot a season-best 12-under par. 

After one day in Hilton Head, the Wildcats sat in 16th place of 17 teams, putting up a score of 303 and 19-over par, down by 15 strokes from first place. 

Marta López Echevarría led the Wildcats’ shooting 73 overall and 2-over par, having a strong Monday with team-best four birdies throughout her round. Echevarría’s strong first round had herself tied for a spot in 23rd place going into Tuesday. 

Just behind Echevarría was freshmen golfer Karlie Campbell, who shot 4-over par with two birdies, but found herself stuck getting four bogeys, placing her in 44th place on Monday.  

On Tuesday, the Wildcats’ found themselves falling into last place, finishing their second round shooting 25-over par as a team and +44 overall from the first two days. 

Echevarría and Campbell would both go on to total their two-day scores to both score 11-over par on Tuesday. Despite that, another freshmen golfer, Anastasia Hekkonen, would shine on Tuesday, shooting just 1-over par and 7-over in her two-day total and moving herself up 25 spots in the tournament’s leaderboard. 

On the final day of the tournament, the Wildcats got the early go-around with tee times from 7:30 a.m. to 8:10 a.m. while also fighting the rain in the morning hours on the course. 

After struggling through the first couple rounds, the Wildcats would come out Wednesday and finish on a good note with their best team score of the weekend, shooting +16 as a whole. 

Campbell again led the team, going 3-over par, alongside Hekkonen, who shot 7-over par on Wednesday with three double bogeys. 

The freshmen duo in Campbell and Hekkonen would both tally scores of +14 on the week, leading the team and both taking 56th place in the tournament. 

Sophomore Cathryn Brown had her best day of the invitational, shooting 3-over par and having three birdies to help her get there. 

The momentum of the team didn’t stop there as Brooke Oberparleiter tallied her best day of the tournament as well, making three birdies and ending her day 5-over par. 

Echevarría would end her week +16 and have a bounce back day from Tuesday, shooting 5-over par on the day, making par in 14 holes during her final round. 

However, after the three days on the course, the Wildcats shot 60-over par with a total of 312 strokes, finding themselves in last place just by a singular stroke. 

The Wildcats will have a chance to bounce back on the links on March 24-25 at the Charles Schwab Collegiate Invitational in Fort Worth, Texas.