Duke ahead of the pack in NCAA Championship; Florida's Brooks grabs individual lead with 67

   When the violent spring weather finally passed through Fayetteville, Ark. in the overnight hours of Saturday into Sunday, the NCAA Championship resumed with the completion of the suspended second round at The Blessings Golf Club.

   There was a different dynamic, though, as NCAA officials shortened what had been scheduled as a 72-hole individual stroke-play championship and qualifying for match play to 54 holes. There is one less round to make up ground whether you’re in the hunt for an NCAA individual title or pursuing one of the eight coveted spots in match play, which gets under way Tuesday.

   The original plan to cut the field of 24 teams to 15 following what was supposed to be Sunday’s third round was scrapped and all 24 teams will tee it up in Monday’s final-round shootout. The Golf Channel is going to broadcast it and if you’re looking for drama on a Monday afternoon on your TV or whatever device you use to watch this stuff, I would advise you to tune in.

   It seems like the 6,397-yard, par-73 Blessings layout didn’t play nearly as tough in the second round as it did in the first round when no team was able to so much as break 300.

   No. 3 Duke, an Atlantic Coast Conference power, was one of the early starters Saturday and had it to 11-under for the second round when play was suspended. The Blue Devils completed that 11-under round with a 281 total that was easily the best of the weekend. Combined with an opening-round 305, it left Duke with a 2-over 586 total and a nine-shot lead over top-ranked Southern California, the Pac-12 champion.

   The Trojans posted a solid 3-under 289 after opening with a 306 and were alone in second place at 11-over 595. Right on their heels was No. 2 Texas, the Big 12 champion, which added a 2-over 294 to its opening-round 302 to land a shot behind Southern California at 12-over 296. The Longhorns had shared the lead following Friday’s opening round with No. 10 Arkansas, playing on its home course, with their 302.

   The Razorbacks, a Southeastern Conference power, added a 4-over 296 to their opening-round 302 and shared fourth place with reigning national champion Arizona, ranked fourth and a Pac-12 rival of Southern California. The Wildcats carded a solid 2-over 294 after opening with a 304.

   No. 7 Stanford, another Pac-12 power, is alone in sixth place at 20-over 604 after adding a 300 to its opening-round 304. The Cardinal are six shots behind Arkansas and Arizona and here’s where it starts getting really interesting in the battle for the top eight teams who will battle it out in Tuesday morning’s quarterfinal round of match play.

   A couple of perennial Big Ten powers, No. 22 Purdue and No. 16 Northwestern, account for the final two spots in the top eight as it stands going into Monday’s final round.

   The Boilermakers added a solid 2-over 294 to their opening-round 312 and were in seventh place at 22-over 606 and the Wildcats matched that 2-over 294 in the second round after opening with a 313 and were a shot behind Purdue in eighth place at 23-over 607.

   Another shot behind Northwestern in a tie for ninth at 24-over 608 were another couple of really tough teams, Arkansas’ SEC rival Auburn, ranked 13^th, and ACC champion Wake Forest, ranked sixth.

   The Tigers added a solid 3-over 295 to their opening-round 313 while the Demon Deacons knocked 10 shots off their opening-round 399 with a 7-over 299.

   There a couple of other teams lurking just outside the top 10 that are just one hot round away from earning a ticket to match play. And the teams inside the top eight will have to keep grinding if they want to make sure to hold onto their spots.

   Just ask anyone associated with defending champion Arizona. The Wildcats earned the eighth seed in match play after surviving a playoff with Baylor a year ago at the Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla. and proceeded to rip off three match wins in the next two days to claim the national title.

   Duke was led by Ana Belac, a junior from Slovenia who completed a solid 4-under 69 before play was suspended Saturday. Combined with her opening-round 76, it gave Belac a 1-under 145 total and left her alone fifth place in the individual standings, four shots behind individual leader Sierra Brooks, a junior at Florida out of Orlando, Fla. and the No. 24 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

   Two of Belac’s teammates, Jaravee Boonchant, a sophomore from Thailand and No. 25 in the Women’s WAGR, and Miranda Wang, a redshirt sophomore from China, were part of a seven-player logjam tied for sixth, two shots behind Belac at 1-over 147. Boonchant completed a 2-under 71 Sunday and Wang came back and finished off a solid 2-under 72. Duke’s five played so well, though, that it was able to toss Wang’s 72.

    The Blue Devils got a huge boost from their star freshman, Gina Kim of Chapel Hill, N.C., who completed a 3-under 70 that left her among the group tied for 13^th at even-par 146.

   Duke also got a counting 2-under 71 from its veteran, Virginia Elena Carta, a senior from Italy who was the freshman phenom when she captured the NCAA individual title in 2016 at Eugene Country Club. Carta had opened with an 82 Friday, but bounced back in a big way and was among the group tied for 42^nd at 153.

   For Brooks, it must seem like a 100 years ago when she was the teen star who was the runnerup in the 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Portland Golf Club and who represented the United States in the 2016 Curtis Cup Match at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club in suburban Dublin.

   I’ve chronicled the detours in Brooks’ journey since the summer of 2016 a couple of times in this blog. She was a prized recruit at Wake Forest and then suddenly was dealing with a confusing wrist injury that just wouldn’t get better.

   Brooks left Wake Forest and entered the LPGA Qualifying School. But she still wasn’t healthy. Finally, she decided to become a Gator. She had once committed to her home-state school as a youngster. Somehow, Florida seemed right again.

   If you think the brilliant 6-under 67 Brooks fired over two days means she’s back, well, you haven’t been paying attention. Brooks has been back for a while now, ever since she started teeing it up as Gator at the start of the spring semester as 2018 dawned.

   Brooks was 3-under for her round with seven holes left when play was halted Saturday. When she came back Sunday, she birdied four of those seven, including three of the last four, the sixth, eighth and ninth holes.

   Brooks had opened with a 2-over 75 and her seven-birdie, one-bogey 67 left at the top of the heap in the chase for an individual NCAA title at 4-under 142.

   But like the team competition, this individual thing is nowhere near over. One of Brooks’ two closest pursuers is Arkansas’ Maria Fassi, a senior from Mexico playing on her home course. Fassi, No. 3 in the Women’s WAGR, is the reigning Annika Award winner. She was so impressive in claiming runnerup honors in the last month’s inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship.

   Fassi is going to have the full-throated support of Pig Sooie Nation Monday at The Blessings.

   Fassi finished up a 2-under 71 Sunday after opening with a 72 and was a shot behind Brooks in a tie for second with Arizona’s Bianca Pangdanganan, a senior from the Philippines, at 3-under 143. Pangdananan had grabbed the lead after the opening round with a 4-under 69 in tough conditions. She added a 1-over 74 in the second round to join Fassi in the tie for second.

   If you tune in Monday’s telecast on The Golf Channel, you will likely see a tape of Pangdanganan’s eagle putt on the final hole of stroke play a year ago at Karsten Creek that enabled Arizona to force a playoff for the eighth and final seed in match play. Without that putt, there is no match-play berth, there is no national championship. So yeah, pretty clutch.

   Purdue’s Inez Wanamarta, a sophomore from Indonesia, was alone in fourth place a shot behind Fassi and Pangdanganan at 2-under 144 after adding a 3-under 70 to her opening-round 74.

   Lurking in that group of seven players tied for sixth along with Duke’s Boonchant and Wang at 1-over 147 was Stanford’s Albane Valenzuela, a junior from Switzerland and No. 8 in the Women’s WAGR. Valenzuela is as talented as any player in Division I women’s golf and can grind with the best of them. She added an even-par 73 to her opening-round 74 to land at 147.

   Somehow, I think Valenzuela’s focus is on getting the Cardinal to the Final Match Wednesday after two straight springs of frustrating semifinal setbacks. But she is completely capable of going low and getting into the mix for an NCAA individual title.

   Fassi’s Arkansas teammate, Kaylee Benton, a senior from Buckeye, Ariz., also landed in the group at 1-over 147 as she matched Valenzuela’s even-par 73 after opening with a 74. Benton gave eventual champion Kristen Gillman all she wanted when Benton fell to Gillman in 19 holes in the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur last summer at The Golf Club of Tennessee.

  Rounding out the group at 147 were Mississippi’s Kennedy Swann, a junior from Austin, Texas, Virginia Tech’s Amanda Hollandsworth, a graduate student from Floyd, Va., and Southern California’s Amelia Garvey, a sophomore from New Zealand.

   Swann posted a 2-under 71 after opening with a 76, Hollandsworth bettered par with a 1-under 72 after opening with a 75 and Garvey matched par with a 73 after opening with a 74.