At the ANNIKA Intercollegiate, some spectacular golf after a death in the family

   If you were in the vicinity of St. Elmo, Minn. Tuesday, you could have watched 14 – I was using my fingers when I counted, so it might be more -- of the top 50 players on the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) list.

   But unfortunately the focus for all of the competitors gathered for the ANNIKA Intercollegiate, presented by 3M, at the Royal Golf Club, was on the stunning news that the No. 44 player on that list, Celia Barquin Arozamena, who captured the Big 12’s individual title in the spring in her senior season at Iowa State, had been the victim of an apparent murder while playing a solo round of golf on the Coldwater Links Golf Course Monday in Ames, Iowa.

   I’m sure the news hit particularly hard for the two Big 12 teams in the ANNIKA Invitational field, Texas and Oklahoma State. I remembered thinking when I did the roundup of the Big 12 Championship last spring that it seemed odd that an Iowa State kid could beat all those stars from Texas, from Baylor, from Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.

   But the senior from Spain, playing in her fourth and final Big 12 Championship, was determined. She fired a 3-under-par 69 in the final round at the Dallas Athletic Club’s Blue Course to capture the individual title by three shots. She was named Iowa State’s female Athlete of the Year for the 2017-’18 school year.

   Iowa State left the East & West Match Play being hosted by Michigan Tuesday when it got the news.

   Barquin Arozamena qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open at Shoal Creek this summer and won the biggest prize in European amateur circles when she captured the European Ladies Amateur Championship at the Penati Golf Resort in Slovakia.

   Barquin Arozamena was preparing for Stage II of LPGA Qualifying School. The 22-year-old was on her way.

   It is a unique sorority, this group of college kids from all over the world who compete like crazy at a game in which sportsmanship is valued as highly – if not moreso – than winning.

   There wasn’t anything all those stars gathered for the ANNIKA Intercollegiate could do. So they honored the memory of Barquin Arozamena the best way they could, by playing some spectacular golf.

   Two-time reigning ACC champion Duke had held the lead when Monday’s opening round was suspended by lightning. The Blue Devils completed a 9-under 289 over the 6,267-yard, par-72 Royal Golf Club layout and then added a 10-under 278 in Tuesday’s second round for a 19-under 557 total.

   But Wednesday’s final round should be quite the shootout because Duke is being chased by some of the most talented teams in women’s college golf as the 2018-’19 season tees off.

   Alabama, which fell to Arizona in the NCAA Championship’s Final Match at the Karsten Creek Golf Club in the spring, and two-time reigning Pac-12 champion UCLA each carded a blistering 13-under 275 in Tuesday’s second round.

   The Crimson Tide, who opened with a 284, are two shots behind Duke at 17-under 559. The Bruins, who opened with a 285, are another shot behind Alabama in third at 16-under 560.

   UCLA’s crosstown rival, Southern California, is a shot behind the Bruins and the Crimson Tide at 15-under 561 after adding a 9-under 279 to its opening-round 282. Two-time reigning Big 12 champion Texas is five shots behind the Trojans in fifth at 10-under 566 after the Longhorns added a 7-under 281 to their opening-round 285.

   Reigning Southeastern Conference champion Arkansas is another shot behind the Longhorns in sixth in the elite 12-team field at 9-under 567. The Razorbacks completed a 1-under 287 Tuesday morning before adding an 8-under 280.

   Duke was paced by Ana Belac, a junior from Slovenia who grabbed the individual lead by firing a 7-under 65. Belac had completed her opening-round 68 before play was suspended and Tuesday’s round left her at 11-under 133.

   Backing up Belac for the Blue Devils was Jaravee Boonchant, a sophomore from Thailand who added a 4-under 68 to her opening-round 69 for a 7-under 137 total that left her among a trio of players tied for fifth. Boonchant is No. 43 in the Women’s WAGR.

   Virginia Elena Carta, a junior from Italy who won the 2016 NCAA individual title as a freshman at Duke, matched par with a 72 after opening with a 69 and is in the group tied for 14^th at 3-under 141.

   Gina Kim, a freshman from Chapel Hill, N.C., recorded a second straight 1-over 73 and is in the group tied for 35^th at 2-over 146. Rounding out the Duke lineup was Miranda Wang, a redshirt sophomore from China who posted a second straight 76 and is in the group tied for 52^nd at 8-over 152.

   Belac has quite a collection of talent chasing her for the individual honors.

   Alabama’s Kenzie Wright, a junior from Frisco, Texas who transferred from SMU, fired her second straight 67 to hold down second at 10-under 134, a shot behind Belac.

   Arkansas’ Dylan Kim, a senior from Plano, Texas and the No. 36 player in the Women’s WAGR, is tied for third with Southern Cal’s Melia Nam, a freshman from Kailua, Hawaii, at 9-under 135. Kim added a 68 to her opening-round 67 while Nam ripped off a 6-under 66 after opening with a 69.

   Joining Boonchant in the trio tied for fifth at 7-under 137 were Stanford’s Andrea Lee, a junior from Hermosa Beach, Calif. and the No. 5 player in the Women’s WAGR, and Texas’ Kaitlyn Papp, a sophomore from Austin, Texas and the No. 42 player in the Women’s WAGR. Lee added a 68 to her opening-round 69 while Papp opened with a 68 and added a 69.

   UCLA’s Lilia Vu, a senior from Fountain Valley, Calif. and the No. 2 player in the Women’s WAGR, is alone in eighth place at 6-under 138 after adding a 68 to her opening-round 70.

   Two of Vu’s teammates, Patty Tavatanakit, a sophomore from Thailand and the No. 8 player in the Women’s WAGR, and Mariel Galdiano, a junior from Pearl City, Hawaii and the No. 25 player in the Women’s WAGR, are among a group of five players tied for ninth at 4-under 140. Tavatanakit, who beat Vu in a playoff for the Pac-12 title in the spring, added a 68 to her opening-round 72 while Galdiano fired a 69 after opening up with a 71.

   Also in that group is Southern Cal’s Jennifer Chang, a sophomore from Cary, N.C. and the No. 38 player in the Women’s WAGR. Chang, part of an exceptional freshman class in college women’s golf last season – Papp and Tavatanakit were two of the best – added a 3-under 69 to her opening-round 71.

   Arizona’s Haley Moore, a senior from Escondido, Calif. and No. 29 in the Women’s WAGR, joined the group at 4-under by adding a 4-under 68 to her opening-round 72. Moore struck the final shot of the 2017-’18 Division I women’s college golf season, a short birdie putt on the first extra hole of her match that gave the Wildcats their third national championship.

   Northwestern’s Stephanie Lau, a senior from Fullerton, Calif., is the final member of the quintet tied for ninth at 140 as she added a 4-under 68 to her opening-round 72.

   By the way, Stanford’s Lee and UCLA’s Vu and Galdiano were members of the U.S. Curtis Cup team that rolled to a 17-3 victory over Great Britain and Ireland at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y. in June. Lee and Galdiano are two-time U.S. Curtis Cup team selections.