Two-time reigning Big Ten champion Michigan State, No. 23 in
the latest Golfstat rankings, jumped
in front after a double-round Monday in the Briar’s Creek Invitational at The
Golf Club at Briar’s Creek in Johns Island, S.C.
The Spartans, behind their best player, individual co-leader
Allyson Geer-Park, a junior from Brighton, Mich., added an even-par 288 to
their opening round of 5-under 283 for a 5-under-par 571 total over the
6,101-yard, par-72 Briar’s Creek layout that left them three shots ahead of Big
Ten rival Indiana, ranked 68th.
The Hoosiers opened with a 1-over 289 before posting the
best round of the afternoon, a 3-under 285, that left them in second place at
2-under 574. They were the only other team to finish the day under par.
No. 25 Campbell opened with a 4-under 284 before adding a
4-over 292 to land in third place at even-par 576, two shots behind Indiana.
No. 39 Old Dominion was another four shots behind the Camels in fourth at
4-over 580 after adding a 4-over 292 to its opening round of even-par 288.
No. 65 College of Charleston and No. 88 Long Beach State are
tied for fifth at 5-over 581. The Cougars added a 6-over 294 to their opening
round of 1-under 287. The 49ers, who got out of their comfort zone with a
cross-country trek to the opposite coast, added a 1-over 289 to their opening
round of 4-over 292.
No. 22 Clemson, an Atlantic Coast Conference power, added a
5-over 293 to its opening round of 1-over 289 for a 6-over 582 total that left it
in seventh place. Another Big Ten entry, No. 27 Illinois, is a shot behind
Clemson in eighth place at 7-over 583. The Fighting Illini opened with a
3-under 285 before falling back with a 10-over 298.
No. 50 Penn State got off to a nice start with a 1-over 289
in the opening round, but the Nittany Lions couldn’t keep it up in the
afternoon as they struggled to a 13-over 301 that left them tied for 11th
with No. 45 East Carolina at 14-over 590.
Geer-Park has been right in the middle of Michigan State’s
back-to-back conference championships and she tamed the Briar’s Creek layout
Monday with an opening round of 5-under 67, the low individual round of the day
and a 3-under 69 in the afternoon that left her tied for first in the
individual standings with Clemson’s Ana Paula Valdes, a junior from Mexico, at
8-under 136.
Backing up Geer-Park for the Spartans was Yurika Tanida, a
sophomore from Japan who opened with a 1-under 71 and added a 2-over 74 to join
the group tied for 20th at 1-over 145.
Paz Marfa Sans, a junior from Spain, and Haylin Harris, a
freshman from Carmel, Ind., both landed among the group tied for 34th
at 4-over 148. Marfa Sans added a 1-over 73 to her opening-round 75 while
Harris matched par in the afternoon with a 72 after a throw-out 76 in the
morning.
Valery Plata, a freshman from Colombia, had the Spartans’
second-best score in the morning with a 2-under 70 before backing off with a 79
in the afternoon that left her in the group tied for 46th at 5-over
149.
Plata was the medalist in a Golf Association of
Philadelphia-administered qualifier for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at
the Steel Club last summer and reached the quarterfinals at the Poppy Hills
Golf Course on northern California’s Monterey Peninsula before falling to
eventual runnerup Alexa Pano.
Clemson’s Valdes carded a pair of 4-under 68s to get a share
of the individual lead with Geer-Park at 8-under.
Campbell’s Emily Hawkins, a freshman from Lexington, N.C.
who’s been playing some solid golf for the Camels, had a pair of 3-under 69s to
take sole possession of third place at 6-under 138, two shots behind the
co-leaders.
Valdes’ teammate at Clemson, Alice Hewson, a senior from the
United Kingdom and the No. 26 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking
(WAGR), was a shot behind Hawkins in a tie for fourth with Indiana’s Alexis
Miestowski, a freshman from Schereville, Ind., at 5-under 139.
Hewson, a member of both Great Britain & Ireland’s
winning Curtis Cup team at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club in suburban Dublin in 2016
and GB&I’s losing Curtis Cup team last summer at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in
Scarsdale, N.Y., fired a 4-under 68 in the afternoon after opening with a 1-under
71. Miestowski added a 3-under 69 to her opening-round 70.
Kansas’ Yi-Tsen Chou, a junior from Taiwan, and Old
Dominion’s Sana Tufail, a senior from the United Arab Emirates, were tied for
sixth at 3-under 141, two shots behind Hewson and Miestowski. Chou added a
1-under 71 to her opening-round 70 while Tufail followed up her 1-under 71 in
the opening round with a 70 in the afternoon.
Furman’s Natalie Srinivasan, a junior from Spartanburg, S.C.
and No. 29 in the Women’s WAGR, was alone in eighth at 2-under 142 after
bouncing back from an opening-round 74 with a 4-under 68 in the afternoon.
Penn State was led by senior Jackie Rogowicz, a two-time
PIAA runnerup at Pennsbury who bounced back nicely from a rough go in the
Florida Gators Invitational in Gainesville, Fla. Rogowicz matched par in the
opening round with a 72 and added a 1-under 71 in the afternoon to join the
group tied for ninth at 1-under 143.
But Rogowicz didn’t get much support from her teammates,
particularly in the afternoon.
Sarah Willis, a freshman from Eaton, Ohio who played really
well in finishing tied for ninth in the Florida Gators Invitational, opened
with a 1-under 71 at Briar’s Creek, but struggled in the afternoon with a
4-over 76. That left her in the group tied for 29th at 3-over 147.
Junior Megan McLean, a product of Voorhees High, matched par
in the opening round with a 72 before adding a 4-over 76 that left her in the
group tied for 34th at 4-over 148. Senior Cara Basso, a Villa Maria
Academy product who has won the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia
Match-Play Championship each of the last two summers, struggled to a 78 in the
afternoon after opening with a 74. Basso joined the group tied for 64th
at 8-over 152.
Senior Lauren Waller, the 2014 PIAA Class AAA runnerup as a
senior at Canon-McMillan, also struggled in the afternoon, posting an 80 after
opening with a 74 as she ended up among the group tied for 71st at
10-over 154.
Junior Madelein Herr, who starred scholastically at Council
Rock North, competed as an individual, as she has at all of Penn State’s
tournaments this spring. Herr again tried to make the case that she belongs in
the starting lineup as she carded a 1-over 73 in the afternoon after opening
with a 75, which left her in that same group that included her teammate McLean,
tied for 34th at 4-over 148.
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