Alabama women’s golf starts strong at ANNIKA Intercollegiate

Haley Taylor, Contributing Writer

The Alabama women’s golf team kicked off its 2021-22 season at the ANNIKA Intercollegiate on Sept. 13 in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. The team finished fourth in the three-day tournament.

The tournament lineup included junior Sarah Edwards, fifth-year student Polly Mack, graduate student Angelica Moresco, sophomore Benedetta Moresco and junior Emilie Øverås. 

The team kicked off the tournament on Monday, tying with Texas for eighth place. After the first 18 holes of the season, the team was 3-over-par 291 — the second best start in the last 11 tournaments. 

Moresco, reigning 2021 Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year, tied for third after putting up a 4-under-par 68. 

Alabama continued climbing the leaderboard Tuesday after a stellar performance from Mack. The team surged to fourth place after posting a 4-under-par 284. The team recorded the lowest score of the day by two strokes. 

Mack rattled off eight birdies, concluding the second day 5-under-par 67. She led Alabama’s individual leaderboard that day. 

“Polly Mack had a great round,” head coach Mic Potter said. “One poor shot is all she hit, and it cost her a double, but she has it going for a while.” 

Mack landed her fifth top-15 finish alongside Moresco, who battled back from a 4-over-par 76 to a 13th place 1-under-par 215. 

Øverås and Moresco had top-40 performances. Øverås finished 4-over-par 220 and tied for 28th, while Moresco finished and tied at 33rd at 5-over-par 221. 

Edwards finished 44th in her first tournament for the Crimson Tide. 

The team ended the tournament 1-under-par 863. Of the 12 teams that went to the tournament, 11 of them finished in the top 25 last season. 

“I told my team I was more impressed with today’s round than I was yesterday’s round, even though the score wasn’t as good,” Potter said after the end of the intercollegiate

The team will be in Nashville Sept. 24-26 for the Mason Rudolph Championship.