HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – Lauren Denhard led the way for the Belmont Abbey women's golf team as the Crusaders opened play at the Battle of Hilton Head Monday at Palmetto Dunes.
 
Denhard opened the tournament with a three-over par round of 75 to finish in a tie for 11th place with six other golfers. Her round was highlighted by a pair of birdies over her final six holes.
 
The opening 75 matches her best round of the season dating back to September 12, 2022 during the first round of the Full Moon BBQ Invitational in Alabama.
 
As a team, the Crusaders are in 16th place after opening with a 335. Lee University leads the tournament after an opening round 294 highlighted by a 3-under par round of 69 by Lily Bloodworth. SCAD-Savannah's Ariana Castro (71) and Bloodworth's teammate Supuschaya Srichantamit (72) were the other golfers to shoot even par or better to open the tournament.
 
Carson-Newman (298) is second in the team leaderboard followed by Wingate (304).
 
The full leaderboard can be found here.
 
BELMONT ABBEY RESULTS
T-11. Lauren Denhard –75 (+3)
T-47. Paeton Phillippi –82 (+10)
T-64. Kaylee Ong –85 (+13)
T-86. Bridget Forgatch –93 (+21)
T-89. Chrissy Popovich –99 (+27)
 
UP NEXT
The tournament concludes with a 9 a.m. shotgun start Tuesday.