The first Missouri Valley Conference Championship hosted by Valparaiso University in any sport began on Monday as the conference’s 10 women’s golf programs completed the first two rounds of the 2019 Championship at Sand Creek Country Club in Chesterton. The first round was slated to occur on Sunday, but was pushed back due to inclement weather. The course recovered nicely from Sunday’s rain and snow, and the temperature was 40 degrees as the morning round teed off and reached the mid-50s by the afternoon hours.

How It Happened

• Junior Tiffany Curtis (Crown Point, Ind. / Crown Point) is one of two Valpo players who are getting the opportunity to play close to home this week as Northwest Indiana locals. She paced the team on Day 1 by carding squad bests in both rounds, a 78 in Round 1 and a 77 in Round 2. Her 36-hole score of 155 is tied for 25^th among the event’s 50 players.
• Kayla Krueger (Spring Lake, Mich. / Spring Lake) is second on the team through one day of action with a 159. She improved her 81 from Round 1 to a 78 in Round 2.
• Kylie Shoemake (Schererville, Ind. / Lake Central) made a seven-stroke improvement from Round 1 to Round 2, as she turned in an 80 over the day’s final 18 holes. The senior is playing in her final collegiate tournament.
• As a team, Valpo improved by nine strokes from Round 1 to Round 2, going from a 326 to a 317 for a 36-hole score of 643.

Inside the Rounds

• The only eagle of the day by any of the 50 participants belonged to a Valpo player as Shoemake needed just three strokes to finish a Par 5 first hole in Round 2.
• Valpo had eight birdies and 88 pars. Curtis and Payton Hodson (Middleton, Wis. / Middleton) paced the team in birdies with three apiece, while Curtis and Krueger had 21 pars each to lead the way.
• Curtis performed well on Par 4 holes, averaging a 4.15 (+3). Hodson was the team’s strongest player on Par 5s with a 4.88 average (-1).
• Valpo’s Round 2 score on Monday (317) was the team’s second-best round this season behind only a 314 in the first round of the Indiana State Invite last week.
• This tournament marks the first women’s golf conference championship hosted by Valpo in program history and the first conference championship event the University has hosted in any sport since the Horizon League Baseball Tournament in Whiting in 2015.

Up Next

The final round of the MVC Championship will take place on Tuesday at Sand Creek Country Club in Chesterton. Tee times will begin at 8:30 a.m. with live scoring available via GolfStat.