ETSU Women’s Golf found major success during the Chattanooga Classic. Head coach Stefanie Shelton and her team now possess two tournament wins for the season, after capturing both team and individual titles on March 29 and 30.
Tereza Melecka (Belcovice, Czech Republic) displayed an impactful effort, netting the most birdies (13) out of the entire tournament roster, while finishing 4-under-par 212 to conclude the event.
Melecka, while admitting that her commanding performance had been manifesting, also gave nod to her teammates and long-time Buccaneer head coach Stefanie Shelton, according to etsubucs.com.
“I had been waiting and wanting this win for a while and it happened today,” Melecka said. “I am so excited and I am very proud of my team. I’m so happy to have them as teammates. I am so grateful for my coach and I cannot wish for more.”
The experienced senior is now the second ETSU Buccaneer to score big with an individual medalist title. Warda Amira Rawof (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) first accomplished this earlier last year.
The Bucs topped both Iowa and Chattanooga by seven strokes, avoiding disaster after struggling late in the tournament. The team’s resiliency has proved to be a signature trait of the team after holding on to first-place during two tournaments this season.
According to etsubucs.com, Shelton sees the victory as one of her most triumphant wins during her tenure as a head coach.
“It has been such a fun year guiding these ladies,” Shelton said. “They work hard and have risen to the challenge multiple times. Today’s victory was one of the great wins in my career. We have been in contention these last events, and today we pushed hard and fought for the win. It is extremely rewarding.”
With the help of Tereza Melecka’s 13 birdies, ETSU lead the Chattanooga Classic tournament in overall birdies with 36 — a season-record for the Buccaneers thus far.
After back-to-back-to-back third-place finishes, Shelton and her team now possess two first-place finishes and a double-sweep heading into the Southern Conference Championship on April 19 and 20.
“This year has been full of blessings – being able to compete and coach this team,” said Shelton.
