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Over the span of two days, two students at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina were 518 strokes over par in their first-ever tournament. In fact, it was the first time they ever each completed 18 holes.
Despite being +518 with scores of 199, 276, 158, and 173 they managed to not only save their team’s golf program they also saved the conference by ensuring automatic qualification to the Division III championship.
The story from Shane Ryan at Golf Digest is unlike anything I’ve ever read before. I was basically raised on a golf course with my dad managing a clubhouse for 30 years before retiring.
Never in my life have I heard of something shooting a score anything close to 276 nor have I heard of scores over 100 being a great thing worthy of praise but this is an incredibly unique story.
The gist is this::
The Meredith College Golf Team lost players to injuries and other reasons after only playing two D3 events. It is a school with 1,400 students.
The Meredith Golf Team needed to play 5 tournaments in order to qualify for the Conference Championship because if they didn’t they “would have been on some kind of probation going forward as far as being a qualified NCAA team” according to their coach.
So the coach and school sent out an email to every student looking for golfers. They found 2 girls to come forward and join the team, Maycee Kay Aycock who had never played 18 holes and didn’t own a set of clubs and Sarah Marshall who had little kid’s clubs and would later shoot a round of 276 in her first tournament.
To Girls On The Meredith Golf Team Save The Program
https://www.tiktok.com/@mayceekay3/video/7217636284997635370
In their first tournament at Lion’s Paw Golf Links in Ocean Isle, N.C, Sarah Marshall would record scores of 276 and 199. Maycee Kay would record scores of 158 and 173.
Together they were 518 strokes over par in just 2 days but they finished the tournament and the team only needed 2 more events to remain eligible for the Conference Championship and the Conference needed them there in order to maintain automatic qualification for the the Division III championship.
After their first tournament their coach would say:
“There were whiffs happening, and sideways shots, and penalty areas and different things. I worked with them a little on the range, and I explained to them, the biggest thing you have to do is get around the golf course and finish 18 holes. They understood what needed to be done, and man, they hung in there.”
After their first round, the girls joked that they were “trauma bonded” and would suddenly go on to become extremely close friends.
https://www.tiktok.com/@mayceekay3/video/7225374475150216494
They played their second tournament in April at the Greenbrier Resort in WV. Maycee Kay shot 148-131 and Sarah Marshall recorded scores of 159-157.
Their third necessary tournament was a 1-day event at Averett University in Virginia. Sarah shot 163 and Maycee Kay recorded a score of 153.
Weeks later at the Conference Championship on a cold and wet morning, the girls overheard another competitor calling them “embarrassing” and they finally broke down and started sobbing.
At that point, another competitor’s mother was walking by and saw them crying and told them “don’t listen to the mean girls. You two are my heroes. You’re the only ones out here having fun.”
The words were what they needed to hear to snap back to reality. They had saved their school’s golf team eligibility, their conference’s automatic qualification to the D3 championship, and they’d grown a love for golf in the process.
Meredith’s golf team finished 7 of 7 in the Conference Championship but the two girls have now earned an automatic spot on their team’s roster next year, if they want it.
I highly suggest reading Shane Ryan’s full story on Golf Digest if you love the game of golf. Their story of perseverance is one of the best I’ve read in years.