Junior Payton Hodson (Middleton, Wis. / Middleton) led the Valparaiso University women’s golf team at the Indiana State University Spring Invitational on Monday at the par-72, 5900-yard Country Club of Terre Haute. Hodson helped the Brown & Gold improve its team score from Round 1 with her best score of the season in Monday’s second round.

How It Happened

• Hodson carded a 76 (+4), which represented the team’s best score of the tournament. Her effort helped her secure a top-20 finish at t-20, going 158 (+14) during the 36-hole tournament.
• Hodson’s 76 marked her best score of the season, outdoing her 77 in the fall dual match vs. Grace. Her score on Monday marked the second-best 18-hole round by a Valpo women’s golfer this season.
• Freshman Carly Schiene (Mokena, Ill. / Lincoln-Way Central) followed her team-best 79 in Round 1 with an 81 in Round 2 to finish second on the squad at 160 (+16, t-27).
• Golfing as an individual, Maddison Murphy (Bloomington, Ill. / University) had another solid day with an 82 to round out the event at 163 (+19, t-35).
• Valpo trimmed two strokes off its Round-1 score with an 18-hole score of 339 in Round 2.

Thoughts from Head Coach Jill McCoy

"Payton had a great round today. She finally has some putts fall in. Her ball striking has been solid all spring and her short game was really solid today. Carly also had another solid round. We had a lot of birdies this weekend as a team. It was a good weekend, camaraderie was high. I look forward to riding the positive energy into our next tournament."

Up Next

Valpo will return to the course with the Redbird Invite at Weibring Golf Course in Normal, Ill. beginning on Friday, April 9.