Cooper, Papp help Texas grab the lead in Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate

   They were just kids when Hailee Cooper and Kaitlyn Papp joined forces to capture the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Amateur Championship at the Streamsong Resort’s Blue Course.

   Cooper still had two years of high school left and Papp still had one. When Papp of Austin, Texas decided to stay home and join the powerhouse Texas program, you couldn’t help but think her pards from Streamsong might follow a year later.

   And that’s exactly what happened. Nearly three years later, the kids who took Streamsong by storm in just the second playing of the USGA’s fledgling national four-ball championship are part of a young and extremely talented Texas team that is No. 3 in the latest Golfstat rankings.

   Cooper, a freshman from Montgomery, Texas, fired a 3-under-par 69 in the opening round of the  Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate at English Turn Golf & Country Club in New Orleans, La. Sunday to get a share of second in the individual standings and lead the reigning two-time Big 12 champion Longhorns to the top of a loaded field.

   Texas is coming of a solid fourth-place finish a couple of weeks ago as it opened its spring campaign against an equally elite field that gathered for the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge in tough conditions in Palo Verdes Estates, Calif.

   The Longhorns put up a 3-under 285 over the 6,239-yard, par-72 English Turn layout to grab a one-shot lead over No. 5 Duke, the two-time reigning Atlantic Coast Conference champion. The Blue Devils were led by Ana Belac, a junior from Slovenia who grabbed the individual lead with a sparkling 4-under 68.

   It was three more shots back to the No. 1 team in the country, Southern California, which carded a 1-over 289 and is alone in third place. No. 16 South Carolina is five shots behind the Trojans in fourth at 6-over 294.

   No. 8 Florida, the defending Allstate champion, shared fifth place at 7-over 295 with North Carolina State, probably a little underrated at No. 66, a shot behind the Gamecocks.

   No. 47 Houston was another shot behind Florida and N.C. State in seventh place at 8-over 296. Two-time reigning two-time Big Ten champion Michigan State, ranked 27^th, and No. 63 Oklahoma State were tied for eighth at 9-over 297.

   It was a bit of a disappointing start to the spring for another ACC entry, No. 34 North Carolina, as the Tar Heels struggled to a 17-over 304 that left them alone in 14^th place in the tough 18-team field.

   Backing up Cooper for Texas was Maddie Luitwieler, a senior from Katy, Texas who shared fifth place with Michigan State’s Valery Plata, a freshman from Colombia, at 2-under 70.

   Papp, who was near the top of an outstanding freshman class all over the country last season, and Sara Kouskova, a freshman from the Czech Republic, gave Texas four players among the top 18 as each carded a 1-over 73 to join the group tied for 18^th.

   Rounding out the Texas lineup was Agathe Laisne, a sophomore from France who is among the group tied for 48^th at 4-over 76. Laisne, winner of the 2017 European Ladies’ Amateur Championship, is coming off a really strong spring debut as she finished tied for second in the Northrop Grumann individual chase.

   Texas is doing this without Emilee Hoffman, a sophomore from Folsom, Calif. who led the Longhorns to the Big 12 title and a second-place finish when they hosted the NCAA Austin Regional last spring.

   Sharing second in the individual standings with Texas’ Cooper at 3-under 69 were N.C. State’s Monika Hartl, a sophomore from Germany who was coming off a solid tie for seventh in the Lady Puerto Rico Classic last week, and Southern Cal’s Amelia Garvey, a sophomore from New Zealand who was a key player in the Trojans’ run to the NCAA semifinals at Karsten Creek Golf Club last spring.

   Plata, who is tied for fifth with Texas’ Lutwieler, adds a talented freshman to a Michigan State program that keeps improving. Plata was the medalist in a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at the Steel Club and reached the quarterfinals of the tournament at Poppy Hills Golf Course on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula.

   Heading a group of six players tied for seventh at 1-under 71, a shot behind Plata and Lutwieler, was Arizona State’s Olivia Mehaffey, a junior from Ireland. Mehaffey is a two-time member of the Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup team and a holdover from the Sun Devils’ stunning run to the 2017 NCAA Championship.

   Rounding out that group at 1-under 71 were Belac’s Duke teammate, Gina Kim, a freshman from Chapel Hill, N.C., Houston’s Amanda Elich, a junior from West Linn, Ore., South Carolina’s Emily Price, a freshman from England, Florida’s Addie Baggarly, a sophomore from Jonesborough, Tenn., and Oklahoma State’s Sara Camarena, a freshman from Mexico.

   Brynn Walker, a two-time PIAA Class AAA champion at Radnor, kicked off the spring portion of her junior year at North Carolina with a 4-over 76, which left her among the group tied for 46^th.

   Two other veteran Tar Heels, Kelly Whaley, a senior from Farmington, Conn., and Mariana Ocano, a junior from St. Petersburg, Fla., joined Walker in the group tied for 46^th at 4-over 76.

   Whaley really got it going last spring, but the Tar Heels couldn’t advance out of a tough NCAA San Francisco Regional. They will need Walker, Whaley and Ocano to be at their best to make it to this spring’s NCAA Championship at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark.

   Nicole Lu, a freshman from Taiwan, was the Tar Heels’ final counter with a 5-over 77 that left her among the group tied for 64^th.  Rounding out the North Carolina lineup was Ava Bergner, a sophomore from Germany who struggled to an 80 that left  her among the group tied for 79^th.

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