The Valparaiso University women’s golf team began Jill McCoy’s head coaching tenure on Sunday as the 2018-2019 season commenced with the first round of the Golfweek Program Challenge at Caledonia Golf & Fish Club in Pawley’s Island, S.C. Kylie Shoemake (Schererville, Ind. / Lake Central) paced her team in the first round of her senior season.

How It Happened

• Shoemake led the team by carding a 76 (+5), a score that ranks tied for 27^th overall through one round.
• Tiffany Curtis (Crown Point, Ind. / Crown Point) earned the top position in the team’s lineup for the first tournament of her junior season. She stroked an 80 and sits in a tie for 52^nd place.
• The remainder of Valpo’s season-opening lineup was comprised of junior Kayla Krueger (Spring Lake, Mich. / Spring Lake), freshman Payton Hodson (Middleton, Wis. / Middleton) and sophomore Shelby Schier (Greenwood, Ind. / Center Grove). Hodson cracked the lineup right away as a freshman.
• Valpo carded a 322 as a team, in 14^th place but just five strokes in  back of 13^th-place Austin Peay and seven strokes away from 12^th-place Tennessee Tech. Old Dominion owns the team lead at 282, one stroke ahead of Campbell. Isabell Ekstrom, who golfs for the Fighting Camels, is the individual leader at 67.

Inside the Round

• Shoemake’s score was three strokes better than her season best in 2017-2018. Her round on Sunday was her best since the Fort Wayne Classic on April 3, 2017, when she posted a career-low of 73.
• Shoemake and Curtis each had one birdie for Valpo. Shoemake’s came on Hole 1, while Curtis birdied a Par 5 15^th hole.
• Hodson hit par 11 times in her collegiate debut, second on the team behind only Shoemake, who enjoyed 12 pars.

Up Next

Valpo will be back on the course for 18 more holes on Monday as the three-day Golfweek Program Challenge in Pawleys Island, S.C. reaches its middle day. Live scoring is available via GolfStat.