Willis leads the way as Penn State is tied for fifth place after opening round of UCF Challenge

   The moves made by Penn State women’s golf coach Denise St. Pierre ahead of the start of the spring tournament season looked like they paid dividends as the Nittany Lions, No. 79 in the latest Golfstat rankings, got off to a solid start with a 2-over-par 290 in the opening round of the UCF Challenge, which teed off Sunday at Eagle Creek Golf Club in Orlando, Fla.

   Penn State had taken a training trip to Orlando a couple of weeks ago which included a look at Eagle Creek. Last weekend, the Nittany Lions were on Florida’s West Coast in Naples for a couple of days of match play against Big Ten rival Minnesota.

   With a long day of Super Bowl LIV preparations going on a couple of hundred miles south of them in Miami, the Penn State gals got the ball in the air for their first tournament of the spring portion of the 2019-2020 season.

   With Sarah Willis, a sophomore from Eaton, Ohio, leading the way with a 2-under 70 over the 6,349-yard,  par-72 Eagle Creek layout that left her in a tie for fifth in the individual standings, Penn State’s 290 total put it in a tie for fifth place in the team standings with Sacramento State.

   The Nittany Lions’ Big Ten rival, Michigan State, ranked 13^th, grabbed the lead following the opening round with a 6-under 282 total. No. 39 Miami was the only other team under par for the day with a 1-under 287 that left the Hurricanes alone in second place, five shots behind the Spartans.

   Perennial Division I power Kent State, at No. 3 the highest-ranked team in the field, and another perennial Big Ten power, Purdue, ranked 70^th, were tied for third place, each posting a 1-over 289.

   Kent State was the winner of the NCAA East Lansing Regional, hosted by Michigan State last season, but the Golden Flashes failed to reach match play in the NCAA Championship at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. after being among the last eight standing after stroke play in the previous two springs.

   I missed this development since last season, but Kent State is under the direction of first-year head coach Lisa Strom, the 1994 PIAA champion as a senior at Lansdale Catholic. Strom was a collegiate standout at Ohio State and, after playing on the LPGA Tour, returned to Columbus as an assistant coach before a successful stint running her own program at Texas State.

   It was another shot behind Kent State and Purdue back to Penn State and Sacramento State locked in the tie for fifth in a tough 16-team field.

   Michigan State was led by Yurika Tanida, a junior from Japan who grabbed a share of the individual lead with Miami’s Renate Grimstad, the Hurricanes’ veteran senior from Norway, as each carded a sparkling 6-under 66. The 66 was a career-low round for Tanida.

   Backing up Tanida for Michigan State were Allyson Geer-Park, the Spartans’ senior leader from Brighton, Mich., and Valery Plata, a sophomore from Colombia, both of whom were among a large group of players tied for 11^th place at 1-under 71.

   Paz Marfa Sans, a senior from Spain, and Haylin Harris, a sophomore form Carmel, Ind., rounded out the Michigan State lineup as each was in the group tied for 37^th place with a 2-over 74. Geer-Park and Marfa Sans were both key players on Michigan State’s back-to-back Big Ten championship teams in 2017 and 2018.

   It was a little bit of a disappointing spring a year ago for Michigan State, which was seeded fifth as the host at the East Lansing Regional, but failed to advance to The Blessings. Harris, who finished third in the individual standings, and Geer-Park, who finished in a tie for 11^th place, did represent Sparty in the NCAA Championship as individuals.

   Tanida and Harris earned spots in the match-play bracket in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss.

   The two individual co-leaders, Grimstad and Tanida, were three shots clear of the rest of the field as Old Dominion’s Jona Melichova, a sophomore from the Czech Republic, and Sacramento State’s Sofie Babic, a senior from Sweden, each posted a 3-under 69 and were tied for third place.

   Penn State’s Willis had a lot of company in the tie for fifth place at 2-under 70 as five other players joined her at that figure, headed by a pair of Kent State players from Thailand, Pimnipa Panthong, a decorated senior and No. 25 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, and Thitapa Pakdeesettakul, a sophomore who is competing as an individual.

   Panthong, who has been one of the best players in Division I the last few years, reached the round of 16 last summer in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Old Waverly.

   Rounding out the group of six players tied for fifth place at 2-under were Purdue’s Inez Wanamarta, a junior from Indonesia, Illinois’ Ali Morallos, a senior form Long Beach, Calif., and Oklahoma State’s Hailey Jones, a freshman from Dallas.

   Backing up Willis for Penn State were the only senior on the trip for the Nittany Lions, Madelein Herr, a four-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Council Rock North, and their promising freshman from France, Mathilde Delavallade, both of whom were among the group tied for 11^th place at 1-under 71.

   Isha Dhruva, a freshman from Waco, Texas, was the final counter for Penn State as she carded a 6-over 78 that left her among the group tied for 73^rd place. Rounding out the Penn State lineup was junior Olivia Zambruno, the 2016 PIAA Class AA champion as a senior at Greensburg Central Catholic who struggled to an 80 to land among the group tied for 83^rd place.

   St. Pierre brought along another freshman, Lauren Freyvogel, the 2017 PIAA Class AAA champion as a junior at Pine Richland, to compete as an individual and Freyvogel joined Dhruva in the group tied for 73^rd place with a 6-over 78.

   The 54-hole event continues with second-round play Monday followed by the final round scheduled for Tuesday.