Whaley helps North Carolina surge to top of Bryan National Collegiate leaderboard

   Sometimes in team golf, leadership is just being the best player.

   That’s what Kelly Whaley, a junior from Farmington, Conn., was for North Carolina, No. 24 in the latest Golfstat rankings, as the Bryan National Collegiate opened Friday with a double-round in increasingly difficult conditions at Bryan Park’s Champions Course in Browns Summit, N.C.

   After struggling a little in the opening round with a 3-over-par 75 over the 6,386-yard, par-72 Champions Course, Whaley led by example, firing a 4-under 68 in the afternoon to move into second place in the individual standings and, more importantly, help the Tar Heels storm from 10^th place to the top of the leaderboard.

   The Bryan National Collegiate was originally scheduled to be single rounds Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but a shaky weekend weather forecast prompted tournament organizers to make it a double-round Friday with an option to finish either Saturday or Sunday depending on the weather. The teams will try to complete the tournament Saturday, although the forecast is not promising.

   What is promising right now is the state of Whaley’s game. She turned around what has been, at times, an indifferent junior season in spectacular fashion a couple of weeks ago when she ripped off a 16-under performance in winning the individual title by five shots in the Briar’s Creek Invitational at The Golf Club at Briar’s Creek in Johns Island, S.C.

   Whaley’s 68, the best round of the day, matched only by her teammate Ava Bergner, a freshman from Germany, gave her a 1-under 143 total and left her two shots off the lead held by host Wake Forest’s Emilia Migliacco, the Demon Deacons’ precocious freshman from Cary, N.C. Migliacco, one of the very best of a tremendous group of freshmen around the country, had steady rounds of 71 and 70 for a 3-under 141 total. Migliaccio and Whaley are the only players under par after two rounds.

   Bergner was North Carolina’s best player last fall, but has struggled at times this spring, including the opening round Friday when she carded an 83. But Bergner responded to that round in the best possible way, by putting it behind her and matching Whaley’s equally spectacular 4-under 68 in the afternoon.

   The two 68s enabled North Carolina to post the best team round of the day, a 2-under 286 in the afternoon, 15 shots better than the 301 the Tar Heels carded in the morning. Their 11-under 587 gave them a one-shot lead over No. 7 Furman after two rounds.

   The always-tough Paladins added a 3-over 291 to their opening-round 297 for a 12-over 588 total. Host Wake Forest, ranked 21^st, and No. 22 Auburn are another shot behind Furman in a tie for third at 13-over 589. The Demon Deacons bounced back from an opening-round 300 with a 1-over 289 in the afternoon while the Tigers added a 294 to their opening-round 295.

   No. 47 Tennessee added a 294 to its opening-round 297 and is alone in fifth at 15-over 291 and No. 35 N.C. State is alone in sixth in the strong 17-team field at 17-over 593 after the Wolfpack struggled in the afternoon with a 300 after opening up with a solid 4-over 292.

   No. 39 Notre Dame struggled in the morning with a 304, but followed that up with a solid 7-over 295 as the Fighting Irish moved into ninth place at 23-over 599.

   North Carolina’s Bryana Nguyen, a senior from Columbia, Md., put together a pair of 3-over 75s and is tied for 32^nd at 150. Bergner’s incredible bounce-back from that opening-round 83 to that afternoon 68 left her in the group tied for 38^th at 151.

   Sophomore Brynn Walker, the two-time PIAA Class AAA champion at Radnor, is tied for 43^rd at 152. Walker was the Tar Heels’ leading lady with an opening-round 73 while her afternoon 79 got tossed. But that’s what team golf is all about, people picking each other up.

   Rounding out the starting five for the Tar Heels was Mariana Ocano, a sophomore from St. Petersburg, Fla. who is the group tied for 50^th at 153, although both her morning 78 and her afternoon 75 were counters.

   North Carolina brought along a couple of players who competed as individuals. Cheni Xu, a senior from China, joined Ocano in the group tied for 50^th at 153 after rounds of 76 and 77. Clementina Rodriguez, a junior from Venezuela, is in the group tied for 87^th at 163 after rounds of 81 and 82.

   Migliaccio isn’t Wake Forest’s only contender for individual honors. Teammate Jennifer Kupcho, a junior from Westminster, Colo., heads a group of four players tied for third at even-par 144. Kupcho has been one of the top players in college golf for three years and nearly won the NCAA individual title last spring at Rich Harvest Farms before ending up tied for second. Kupcho matched par in both rounds with a pair of 72s.

   She was joined in the group tied for third at even-par with Furman’s Natalie Srinivasan, a sophomore from Spartanburg, S.C., South Carolina’s Lois Kaye Go, a sophomore from the Philippines, and Notre Dame’s Mia Ayer, a sophomore form Waco, Texas.

   The day went the same for Srinivasan and Go, as each opened with a 1-under 71 and added a 1-over 73 in the afternoon. Ayer posted a 1-under 71 in the afternoon after opening with a 1-over 73.

   It was an encouraging day for Notre Dame as Emma Albrecht, a junior from Ormond Beach, Fla., backed up Ayer with rounds of 73 and 72 that left her tied for seventh, just a shot behind Ayer and the rest of the foursome tied for third, at 1-over 145.

   Albrecht represented Notre Dame as individual in the NCAA Columbus Regional last spring. She would like to see her teammates join her at regionals this spring. I would imagine the Irish are on the bubble, but I hardly qualify as an NCAA women’s golf bracketologist

   Notre Dame junior Isabella DiLisio, who preceded Walker as the PIAA Class AAA champion in 2013 as a junior at Mount St. Joseph, is in the group tied for 58^th at 155 after rounds of 78 and 77.

   Abby Heck, a freshman from Memphis, Tenn., is in the group tied for 62^nd at 156 after adding a 76 to her opening-round 80 and Maddie Rose Hamilton, a junior from Louisville, Ky., is in a group tied  for 77th at 159 after bouncing back from an 83 in the morning with a 4-over 76 in the afternoon.