PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. — The High Point University women's golf team earned a fourth-place finish (out of 23 teams) at the Golfweek Fall Challenge, which began Sunday morning in the Palmetto State and concluded on Tuesday afternoon. Eva Lye led the Panthers with a top-10 finish, while Makayla Grubb and Rachel Joyce earned top-15 finishes.

HPU's second-lowest first round (273) in program history powered the Panthers to their third fourth-place or better finish in three consecutive years at the season-opening event at the Caledonia Golf & Fish Club.

Head Coach Lyndsey Hunnell: "We saw a glimpse of what this team is capable of in the first round, and that's something we can take a lot of confidence from. We put ourselves in a great position early and showed that we can compete with any field. We didn't finish the way we wanted, with a few big numbers that were uncharacteristic of this group, but I'm proud of how the team competed. We learned a lot this week, and we're going to build on that by continuing to work on the things that challenged us. The team is eager to get back to work on their games and get ready for our next event."

Site: Pawleys Island, S.C.
Course: Caledonia Golf & Fish Club
Par/Yardage: 71/6,004
 
HPU Top Finisher: Eva Lye (T10) — 69, 75, 71 (215)                                                                
HPU Team Finish: 4 of 23 teams — 273, 296, 299 (868) +16
 
Panther Placement:
T10 Eva Lye +2 (69, 75, 71) 215
T14 Makayla Grubb +3 (70, 70, 76) 216
T14 Rachel Joyce +3 (66, 75, 75) 216
T43 Anna Howerton +8 (68, 76, 77) 221
T95 Anais Arafi +19 (77, 76, 79) 232
 
The Panthers started red-hot to jumpstart the season, shooting 11-under 273 as a team en route to besting the program's previous lowest first round (284) from the UNCG Collegiate in 2024.

Freshman Rachel Joyce led the efforts with another program record, tying Anna Howerton's lowest round (66) from the same tournament but in 2023. Joyce carded a bogey-free, 5-under 66 to begin her rookie campaign and earn her a top-15 finish. 

Joining Joyce with a low score after 18 holes was Howerton (-3; 68), Eva Lye (-2; 69), Makayla Grubb (-1; 70) to put the Panthers in first place after day one. Howerton, Grubb and Joyce each had five birdies each as Lye had four and Anais Arafi had one.

Grubb followed her opening round with another 1-under outing, shooting 17 pars with a birdie to pace the Panthers on Monday. The sophomore was the only low score in round two as back-to-back 1-under 70 rounds helped her to a top-15 finish. 

On Tuesday, Lye bounced back from a 4-over round two and worked herself through some challenges to card an even round and finish T10; however, her teammates got into some difficult situations that resulted in big numbers to finish fourth overall.

Up Next: The Panthers will travel to the Lady Paladin Invitational Sept. 18-20 in Greenville, S.C.