UNC Asheville's Caroline Patterson Wins 2026 Women's Golf Championship Medalist Honors
FRIPP ISLAND, S.C. (www.BigSouthSports.com) – UNC Asheville’s
Caroline Patterson made five birdies on Tuesday and moved up two spots on the leaderboard to capture Medalist honors at the Big South Women’s Golf Championship with a 1-under par 215 (79-67-69) in the 54-hole stroke play event, which was contested at Ocean Creek Golf Course (par 72, 6,032 yards) on Fripp Island, S.C. Patterson, who was tied for 26th after Sunday’s first round, won by two strokes to become the first-ever UNC Asheville golfer to win the individual conference championship.
Patterson, who carded a 67 on Monday, entered Tuesday’s final round in third-place and three shots off the lead. Playing three groups ahead of leaders
Eva Lye (first) and
Makayla Grubb (second), Patterson made the turn at 2-under to hold the advantage. She birdied the 10th hole, but suffered two bogeys in a three-hole stretch (12-14) that dropped her into a tie for the top spot. Patterson added birdies on 16 and 17 to enter the clubhouse with the outright lead for good, as Lye had fallen back and Grubb would finish with five pars and a bogey on her final six holes. The win marks Patterson’s second victory of the season, and secured her automatic entry into the the NCAA Regionals.
Grubb finished runner-up at 217, one stroke ahead of Winthrop’s
Constança Mendonça and Longwood’s
Madison Lehr (218). Lye and Charleston Southern's
Eugenie Varet tied for fifth (220), and all five players joined Patterson on the Big South All-Championship Team.
In the team standings,
High Point carded a 305 on Tuesday to finish with a team-aggregate 898 and complete its wire-to-wire lead in the stroke play portion, and will be the top seed in Wednesday’s Match Play Semifinal round. The Panthers finished 15 strokes ahead of
UNC Asheville (913).
Longwood moved up on spot with a 917, while
Charleston Southern clinched the fourth and final Match Play berth with its sudden-death playoff advantage over
Radford and
Winthrop, as all three teams were tied at 922.
Wednesday’s Match Play Championship Semifinal round will feature High Point against Charleston Southern starting on hole one, and UNC Asheville vs. Longwood beginning on hole 10. The winners of each match will play in the championship final Wednesday afternoon, with the champion receiving the Big South’s automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals. The Match Play round can be followed via Scoreboard powered by Clippd's
Live Scoring platform.