Kuehn grabs individual lead, helps Wake Forest get the jump on loaded field in Darius Rucker Intercollegiate

   The Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, which teed off Friday at the Long Cove Club’s Pete Dye Course on Hilton Head Island, S.C., is one of the highlights on the spring schedule in Division I women’s golf.

   The elite 17-team field includes five of the eight teams still standing for match play in last spring’s NCAA Championship at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. There is undoubtedly a few in this field that will be playing matches when the NCAA Championship gets down to the final eight in a couple of months at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

   With a departing storm leaving some gusty winds behind, it was Wake Forest, the reigning Atlantic Coast Conference champion, that grabbed a five-shot lead over West Coast invader UCLA with a 3-over-par 287 total over the challenging 6,290-yard, par-71 Pete Dye design.

   The Demon Deacons, No. 7 in the latest Golfstat rankings, were led by Rachel Kuehn, a freshman from Asheville, N.C. who claimed the individual lead with a 2-under 69.

   No. 14 UCLA, with its twin freshmen European imports, Emma Spitz of Austria and No. 15 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), and Emilie Paltrinieri of Italy and No. 10 in the Women’s WAGR, among a group of six players tied for third place at even-par 71, posted a solid 8-over 292 to hold down second place.

   Three teams, No. 1 Texas, the three-time reigning Big 12 champion, the Longhorns’ Big 12 rival Baylor, ranked 20^th, and No. 19 Auburn, a Southeastern Conference power, landed in a three-way tie for third place at 10-over 294. Texas and Auburn met in a quarterfinal match at The Blessings with the Tigers knocking off the top-seeded Longhorns to reach the semifinals.

   North Carolina came to the Darius Rucker ranked 36^th and only No. 40 Northwestern is ranked lower in this loaded field. But the Tar Heels, despite a slow start by senior Brynn Walker, the two-time PIAA Class AAA champion during an outstanding scholastic career at Radnor, were alone in sixth place at 12-over 296, two shots behind the trio of Texas, Baylor and Auburn.

   The reigning national champion, Duke, ranked sixth, and No. 12 LSU, Auburn’s SEC rival, were tied for seventh place, three shots behind North Carolina at 15-over 299. The Final Match at The Blessings was an all-ACC affair with the Dookies edging Wake Forest for the title.

   Kuehn started on No. 10 Friday and back-to-back bogeys at the 16^th and 17^th holes left her at 1-over for her round, but she made a birdie at 18 to go to the first tee at even-par and then made back-to-back birdies at the third and fourth holes to finish at 2-under, one of just two rounds under par in the tough conditions.

   Backing her up for Wake Forest was reigning ACC individual champion Emilia Migliaccio, a junior from Cary, N.C. and No. 5 in the Women’s WAGR, and Siyun Liu, a senior from China and No. 34 in the Women’s WAGR, both of whom carded a 1-over 72 to join a group of five players tied for 10^th place.

   Migliaccio represented the United States in last summer’s Pan American Games in Lima, Peru and struck gold twice, winning the individual women’s competition and as part of the foursome that captured the mixed team event.

   Vanessa Knecht, a sophomore from Switzerland, had the final counter for the Demon Deacons with a 3-over 74. Knecht showed plenty of poise as a freshman thrust into the cauldron of match play last spring at The Blessings.

   Rounding out the Wake Forest lineup was Lauren Walsh, a freshman from Ireland who carded an 8-over 79.

   The only other player to better par on the Pete Dye Course was Texas’ Agathe Laisne, a junior from France and No. 39 in the Women’s WAGR. Laisne, the reigning Big 12 individual champion, carded a 1-under 70 and was alone in second place, a shot behind Kuehn.

   Joining the UCLA pair of Spitz and Paltrinieri in the seven-player logjam at even-par 71 were the North Carolina pair of Jennifer Zhou, a sophomore from China, and Mariana Ocano, a senior from St. Petersburg, Fla., Auburn’s Megan Schofill, a freshman from Monticello, Fla., Duke’s Ana Belac, a senior from Slovakia and No. 49 in the Women’s WAGR, and host South Carolina’s Ana Pelaez, a senior from Spain.

   Belac was undefeated in three matches at The Blessings in leading the Blue Devils to their seventh national championship, all under head coach Dan Brooks.

   Joining Wake Forest’s Migliaccio and Liu in the quintet tied for 10^th place at 1-over 72 were the Vanderbilt duo of Auston Kim, a sophomore from St. Augustine, Fla. and No. 23 in the Women’s WAGR, and Louise Yu, a junior from Duluth, Ga., and Furman’s Natalie Srinivasan, a senior from Spartanburg, S.C. and No. 25 in the Women's WAGR.

   As a freshman, Auston Kim captured the individual title and led the Commodores to the team crown in the NCAA Auburn Regional last spring.

   Wouldn’t be surprised if U.S. Curtis Cup captain Sarah Ingram, a three-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion and former Duke standout, is hanging out on Hilton Head Island this weekend. Six of the 12 players who joined Ingram for a Curtis Cup practice session December at Loblolly in Hobe Sound, Fla. are in the field for the Darius Rucker.

   Three of those six, Migliaccio, Srinivasan and Auston Kim, were in that group tied for 10^th place at 1-over 72.

   Texas’ Kaitlyn Papp, a junior home girl from Austin Texas and No. 11 in the Women’s WAGR, was in the group tied for 15^th place with a 2-over 73. The top three Americans in the Women’s WAGR on April 8 will be automatic picks for the U.S. Curtis Cup team and Migliaccio and Papp are two of those three a month out.

   UCLA’s Mariel Galdiano, a senior from Pearl City, Hawaii and a veteran of two U.S. Curtis Cup teams, was among the group tied for 33^rd place with a 75. Rounding out the U.S. Curtis Cup candidates was Duke’s Gina Kim, a sophomore from Chapel Hill, N.C. and No. 27 in the Women’s WAGR, struggled to 77 that left her among the group tied for 48^th place.

   A couple of weeks after helping Duke capture an NCAA crown, Gina Kim was the low amateur, finishing in a tie for 12^th place, in the U.S. Women’s Open at the Country Club of Charleston.

   It was a nice start for North Carolina, which got really solid showings from Zhou and Ocano in helping the Tar Heels keep it at 12-over for the day. Kayla Smith, a freshman from Burlington, N.C., backed up the top two with a solid 4-over 75.

   It was a disappointing day for Krista Junkkari, a freshman from Finland who was the Tar Heels’ best player during the fall portion of the wraparound 2019-2020 season, and Walker, who captured the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Match Play Championship on her home course of St. Davids Golf Club last summer.

   Junkkari was North Carolina’s final counter with a 79 that left her in the group tied for 65^th place. Walker, who reached the second round of match play in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss., got off to a bad start and struggled to an 80 that left her among the group tied for 72^nd place. Pretty sure this is Walker’s fourth go-round in the Darius Rucker and I’m guessing she’ll be better in Saturday’s second round.

   North Carolina head coach Jan Mann also brought along Nicole Lu, a sophomore from Taiwan, to compete as an individual and Lu signed for a 6-over 77 and was in the group tied for 48^th place.