Suffolk holds lead over Cortland in race for 2024 NWGC title

REXFORD, NY – Suffolk and Cortland own nine of the Top 10 slots after Day 1 of the 2024 Northeast Women's Golf Conference Championship in Rexford, N.Y.

The two-day, 36-hole event is being held at the Edison Club on its Par 72, 5688-yard course and features 14 NWGC institutions from Maine to Western New York competing for the conference title and an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III National Championship.

Each team is permitted to enter up to five players with four counting toward its team score. The NWGC Championship field consists of 54 individual players also battling for conference hardware.

Suffolk is holding a four-shot lead over Cortland after Day 1 thanks to Ellie Yarbrough's six-over-par 78 that ties her with St. John Fisher's Alex Tomasso for the individual lead through 18 holes. Teammate Ella Torsleff is currently fourth with a 10-over 82, while Isabell Smith is tied for sixth with an 86. Brooke Bugajewski is tied for eighth after carding an 87.

Cortland, the two-time reigning NWGC Champion under its current format, placed five players in the Top 10, including Claudia Winterberg who is third overall with a nine-over 81, and Mimi Rienzo who is fifth with an 11-over-par 83.

Rienzo is the leading candidate for Rookie of the Year honors as she owns the best score after the first 18 holes. Suffolk's Bugajewski is close, currently standing second with an 87. Cobleskill's Lily Tobin is third (+16) with an 88.

Suffolk owns an opening round team score of 333 (+45), slipping ahead of Cortland on Day 1 by just four strokes. The next four squads are bunched together with just 14 strokes separating third place from sixth.

St. John Fisher is third with a total of 388 - five strokes ahead of Cobleskill (393) - and nine in front of Husson (393). Geneseo is sixth with a team score of 402.

Day 2 of the SUNYAC Championship will continue at the Edison Club beginning Sunday morning at noon.