Alabama will take a six-shot lead into the final round as
the Crimson Tide bids for a third straight Darius Rucker Intercollegiate team
crown after their 7-over-par 291 at the Long Cove Club in Hilton Head Island,
S.C. Saturday was again the best round of the day.
Alabama, No. 2 in the latest Golfstat rankings, held a one-shot lead after an opening round of
2-over 286 Friday over a 6,220-yard, par-71 Long Cove layout that has proven to
be a tough challenge for many of the best players in women’s college golf.
Saturday’s round left the Tide with a 9-over 577 total. No. 13 Northwestern,
which was only one back after an opening-round 287, added a 12-over 296 and
remained in second place at 15-over 583.
There are some serious heavyweights lined up behind the
Wildcats, the runnerup to Arizona State in the NCAA Championship’s Final Match
last spring at Rich Harvest Farms.
Chief among them is Alabama’s Southeastern Conference rival
Arkansas, the No. 3 team in the country.
The Razorbacks matched Northwestern’s 296 and are in third place alone,
three shots behind the Wildcats at 18-over 586.
No. 9 Furman carded a 13-over 297 and is in fourth place at 21-over
589. One of the best rounds of the day belonged to resurgent Wake Forest,
ranked 28th. The Demon Deacons posted a 10-over 294 to move into
fifth place, a shot behind the Paladins at 22-over 590.
Reigning ACC champion Duke, ranked fifth, added a 296 to its
opening-round 295 and is in sixth place at 23-over 591. Upstart LSU, ranked 56th,
is two shots behind Duke in seventh at 25-over 593 after carding a 302
Saturday.
It was a bit of a disappointing day for Brynn Walker, the
North Carolina sophomore who won PIAA Class AAA titles in 2014 and 2015 at
Radnor, and the Tar Heels as they slipped back to 11th place in the
elite 18-team field. North Carolina added a 308 to its solid opening-round 293
for a 33-over 601 total.
Alabama was led by Lauren Stephenson, a junior from
Lexington, S.C. who, even in defeat, was one of the heroes of last summer’s
U.S. Women’s Amateur at San Diego Country Club.
Stephenson bowed out of the tournament with an epic
quarterfinal loss in 30 holes to Chia Yen Wu, a talented teen from Chinese
Taipei, in the longest match scheduled for 18 holes in USGA history. Along the
way, Stephenson displayed talent, grit, endurance, sportsmanship, you name it.
Stephenson, No. 6 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking
(WAGR) matched par with a 71 Saturday after opening with a 69 for a 2-under 140
total that left her a shot out the lead in the individual chase. That lead belongs
to LSU’s Claudia De Antonio, a senior from Venezuela. De Antonio, who fired an
opening-round 67, cooled off a little with a 1-over 72, but grabbed the top
spot with her 3-under 139 total.
Backing up Stephenson for Alabama is its trio of tough
Texans.
Lakareber Abe, a senior from Angleton, is tied for eighth at
3-over 145 after adding a 74 to her opening-round 71, and Kristen Gillman, a
sophomore from Austin, and Cheyenne Knight, a junior from Aledo, are both in
the group tied for 14th at 4-over 146 after each carded a second
straight steady 73.
Gillman, the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, is No. 9 in
the Women’s WAGR. Knight, the two-time defending Darius Rucker Intercollegiate
individual champion, is No. 8 in the Women’s WAGR.
Rounding out the Alabama lineup is Angelica Moresco, a
freshman from Italy who posted a 78 and is tied
for 63rd at 12-over 154. She couldn’t pick a better group
from which to learn.
Leading the foursome tied for third in the individual
standings at 1-under 141 is Arkansas’ Maria Fassi, a junior from Mexico who is
No. 24 in the Women’s WAGR. Fassi, who already owns an individual win in the
Lady Puerto Rico Classic earlier this spring, matched par with a 71 after
opening with a 70.
Wake Forest’s Emilia Migliaccio, a freshman from Cary, N.C.,
is also in that group after matching Fassi’s 71. As I have mentioned several
times this season, it is a very strong freshman class all around the country.
Another freshman from Cary, Jennifer Chang, led Southern California to the team
title in the Bruin Wave Invitational last week. That’s two stud freshmen from
the same town.
Georgia’s Jillian Hollis, a junior from Rocky River, Ohio,
and Northwestern’s Brooke Riley, a sophomore from Manteca, Calif., round out
the foursome at 1-under. Hollis and Riley each carded a 2-under 69, two of only
three sub-70 rounds posted Saturday. Oklahoma State’s Emma Broze, a senior from
France, had the best round of the day, a
3-under 68.
Furman’s Alice Chen, a senior from Princeton, N.J., is alone
in seventh place at 1-over 143 after adding a 74 to her opening-round 69.
North Carolina is getting an encouraging outing from Mariana
Ocano, a sophomore from St. Petersburg, Fla. Ocano added a 76 to her
opening-round 73 and is the leading lady for the Tar Heels in a tie for 27th
at 7-over 149.
Walker had the best round of the day for North Carolina, a
4-over 75. It was her second straight 75 and left Walker in a tie for 31st,
a shot behind Ocano at 150. Kelly Whaley, a junior from Farmington, Conn., is
tied for 38th at 151 after adding a 77 to her opening-round 74.
Ava Bergner, the freshman from Germany who has been the Tar
Heels’ best player all year, struggled home with an 82 and is tied for 64th
at 153. Bryana Nguyen, a senior from Columbia, Md., was North Carolina’s fourth
counter with an 80 that left her alone in 88th place at 161.
Clementia Rodriguez, a junior from Venezuela, is competing
as an individual for North Carolina. Rodriguez, who opened with a solid 75,
struggled with an 84 and is tied for 86th at 159.
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