Belac, Carta have Duke out in front when lightning strikes at ANNIKA Intercollegiate

   The road to the 2019 NCAA Championship at the Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. really got going Monday as 12 teams, including seven of the eight teams that made it to match play in the 2018 NCAA Championship at Karsten Creek Golf Club, gathered for the ANNIKA Intercollegiate, presented by 3M, at the Royal Golf Club in St. Elmo, Minn.

   Afternoon thunderstorms rolled in and forced the suspension of play, but two-time reigning ACC champion Duke led a cast of many of the usual suspects at 9-under par over the 6,267-yard, par-72 Royal Golf Club layout.

   Alabama, which lost in the Final Match at Karsten Creek, is a shot behind the Blue Devils at 8-under. It’s two more shots back to Southern California at 6-under. The Trojans are one of the more intriguing story lines in the early going as Justin Silverstein takes over as the head coach for the legendary Andrea Gaston, who left Southern California after 22 spectacularly successful seasons to try to build another winner at Texas A&M.

   Two-time reigning Big 12 champion Texas is fourth at 2-under and perennial Big 10 power Northwestern is another shot behind the Longhorns in fifth at 1-under. Two-time reigning Pac-12 champion UCLA is sixth at even-par, Southeastern Conference champion Arkansas is seventh at 4-over and reigning national champion Arizona is another shot back in eighth at 5-over.

   The individual leader when lightning struck was Alabama’s Kenzie Wright, a junior from Frisco, Texas who transferred to Tuscaloosa from SMU. Wright was 5-under through 15 holes when play was suspended.

   The leader in the clubhouse and one of three Dookies among the top seven on the leaderboard was Ana Belac, a junior from Slovenia who fired a 4-under 68. She is tied for second with her teammate Virginia Elena Carta, a senior from Italy and the 2016 NCAA individual champion at Rich Harvest Farms. Carta was 4-under and playing the 18^th hole when the weather horn sounded.

   Jaravee Boonchant, a sophomore from Thailand, also completed her round, carding a 3-under 69 and is joined by three other players in the group tied for fourth. A lot of programs might have to rebuild a little after losing a talent like two-time Annika Award winner Leona Maguire. Dan Brooks’ Duke program simply reloads.

   Gina Kim, Duke’s freshman phenom recruited away from Chapel Hill, N.C., is 2-over through 16 which leaves her among the group tied for 36^th. And Miranda Wang, a redshirt sophomore from China, completed a 4-over 76 and is among the group tied for 49^th.

   Southern California’s Malia Nam, a freshman from Kailua, Hawaii, matched Boonchant’s 69 and is the other member of the foursome tied for fourth at 3-under already in the clubhouse.

   Texas’ Kaitlyn Papp, a sophomore from Austin, Texas, and Northwestern’s Stephanie Lau, a senior from Fullerton, Calif., are still on the golf course at 3-under. Papp, one of the headliners from last season’s incredibly talented freshman class in Division I women’s golf, is through 15 holes while Lau has completed 12 holes.

   A couple members of the United States team that rolled to a 17-3 victory over Great Britain & Ireland in the Curtis Cup Match earlier this year at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y., Alabama’s Lauren Stephenson, a junior from Lexington, S.C., and Stanford’s Andrea Lee, a junior from Hermosa Beach, Calif., are two of the three players tied for eighth at 2-under.

   Stephenson, No. 4 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), was through 12 holes while Lee, No. 5 in the Women’s WAGR, was through 16 holes when the opening round was suspended.

   Rounding out the trio tied for eighth was Arkansas’ Dylan Kim, a senior from Plano, Texas. Kim is through 13 holes.

   Kim and the Razorbacks finished one frustrating shot from making the match-play bracket at last year’s NCAA Championship. They will be more determined than ever to change that outcome with the 2019 NCAA Championship being staged on their home course.