CMU Freshman Tops Tournament Leaderboard

Monday, October 14

Fort Wayne, Ind.

9 a.m.

Central Michigan University

Mastodon Fall Invite

CMU freshman Claudia Salvador holds a one-shot lead heading into the final round of the Mastodon Fall Invitational in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Photo by: Benjamin Suddendorf

10/14/2019 9:08:00 PM | Women's Golf

Chippewas second after Day 1 at Mastodon Fall Invitational

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Central Michigan's Claudia Salvador shot 74-76–150 on Monday and holds a one-shot lead heading into the final round of the Mastodon Fall Invitational at Pine Valley Country Club.

The 54-hole tournament concludes with the final round on Tuesday morning.

Salvador led the Chippewas to a 36-hole 625 total. They stand in second place in the seven-team event, 12 shots behind Green Bay. CMU opened with a 313 and then posted a 312 in the afternoon round. The Chippewas lead third-place Indiana State (319-314—633) by eight shots.

CMU's Meghan Deardorff shot 75-79—154 and is among three players tied for fifth. It was another solid day for the junior from Clarkston, who has not posted a score above 79 in nine rounds this fall and is averaging 76.6.

"Pretty steady," CMU coach Jim Earle said of Deardorff's round. "I think she walked off the golf course pretty disappointed because I think she felt like she let some holes get away from her and some opportunities sneak by. Not her best stuff today, but she was able to grind it out and is in fifth place. That says a lot about her character and her game and who she is as the leader of our team right now."

Two other CMU freshmen, Padgett Chitty and Zoe Vartyan, are tied for 17^th and tied for 22^nd, respectively. Chitty shot 79-81—160, while Vartyan rebounded from an opening-round 89 with a 76, giving her a 165 total. Chippewa junior Rachel Leucuta shot 85-84—169 and is 33^rd.

Vartyan's second-round 76 was particularly gratifying, Earle said, in light of the fact that she posted scores in the 80s in her previous four rounds going back to the CMU's last event, the Mid-American Conference Fall Preview.

"Zoe's been trying to find her game a little bit over the past couple weeks," Earle said. "She just hit the ball much more solid the second round (today)."

Vartyan began her second round with an up-and-down par from a bunker, then holed out for a birdie from a bunker on her second hole.

"That sort of catapulted her to be able to put a string of good holes together," Earle said.

Green Bay shot 306-307—613. The last time CMU and Green Bay squared off in a tournament, the Eastern Michigan Shirley Sport Invitational two weeks ago, the Chippewas trailed the Phoenix by four shots entering the final round.

"it's nice to be in it for sure," Earle said. "Green Bay had a bit of a lead on us going into the final round of the Eastern tournament and we came back and caught them and finished ahead of them. We don't think it's over by any stretch. I think if all five of us show up it's going to take a pretty good score to beat us regardless of how big the lead is."

Salvador is in position to become the first Chippewa since the program's resurrection in 2014-15 to win a tournament. Linnzie Richner of host Purdue Fort Wayne trails Salvador by one shot after shooting 78-73—151 on Monday.

Salvador made seven birdies on the day, the most among the 46-player field. Deardorff had four birdies, tying for second among the field. The Chippewas made 16 birdies and lead the tournament in that category.

"I think she's going to have a great round (on Tuesday)," Earle said of Salvador. "She's hitting the ball really well, she loves the golf course, it sets up great for her. It plays pretty long and Claudia's such a great driver of the golf ball. She's longer than everybody else in the field. It's one of the courses that, off the tee, it just plays to her strengths. It's not open by any means, but I think it sets up well for her."

Salvador's first-round 74 did not come without some adventure. She began the round on No. 18 under the shotgun-start format and made four birdies against one bogey through her first six holes. Then, she ran into trouble, sandwiching bogeys around a quadruple bogey 8 on the par 4 seventh to slip to 4-over. She birdied the par-4 10^th and then parred her final seven holes in succession.

That Salvador was able to right the ship after a potentially disastrous three-hole stretch was a very good sign, Earle said.

"That was a big moment in her career as a competitive player because she didn't allow that to completely derail her," he said. "The second 18 she played really well.

"It's pretty remarkable that this is her fourth collegiate tournament and she's put herself in position to win. She's a freshmen, she's going to have adversity on that golf course (on Tuesday), and how she handles that adversity is going to determine if she's going to come out with a tournament victory or not. I know she's going to give it her all."