Tennessee's Davis grabs individual lead, Vanderbilt tops team standings as NCAA Championship tees off

 

   Bailey Davis of White Plains, Md. was the feel-good story of the 2021 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship when the native Marylander reached the final at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Md. before falling to the formidable Rose Zhang.

   Davis is a senior at Tennessee and has been a steady, veteran presence for the Volunteers, but the spotlight shined on her again Friday as she posted a 5-under-par 67 to grab a one-shot lead in the individual standings as the NCAA Championship teed off at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.

   Tricky winds turned the 6,330-yard, par-72 La Costa layout into an adventure for many of the very best players in women’s amateur golf, but Davis seemed unbothered.

   Starting off the 10^th tee, Davis made a bogey at the 13^th hole, but after that, she was off to the races. She made birdies at the 15^th, 18^th and third holes to get it to 2-under for the day. Davis then finished with a flourish, ripping off three straight birdies at the sixth, seventh and eighth holes to finish at the top of the leaderboard at 5-under.

   Davis’ scorching start helped Tennessee, out of the Southeastern Conference, open with a 3-over 291 that left the Volunteers, No. 31 in the Scoreboard, powered by clippd, rankings, in a tie for eighth place with Big Ten power Northwestern, No. 11 in the Scoreboard rankings.

   Friday’s opening round was just the beginning. Teams will be vying to finish among the top eight teams that qualify for match play following 72 holes of stroke play, which wraps up Monday.

   The field in the team competition will be cut to the top 15 following Sunday’s third round.

   An individual champion will be crowned Monday, when The Golf Channel’s cameras will begin to roll.

   Many of the top teams struggled mightily in Friday’s opening round, but there’s a lot of golf to be played.

   The leader in the team competition was the SEC’s Vanderbilt, No. 24 in the Scoreboard rankings, as the Commodores, with freshman Angelina Tolentino, the reigning Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur champion, in the lineup, opened with a 6-under 282.

   Oklahoma State, out of the Big 12 and No. 35 in the Scoreboard rankings, was two shots behind Vanderbilt in second place after posting a 4-under 284.

   Big Ten champion Oregon, No. 5 in the Scoreboard rankings, Florida, the SEC runnerup and No. 22 in the Scoreboard rankings, Arizona State, which lost in a three-way playoff in the Big 12 Championship and No. 8 in the Scoreboard rankings, and Texas, which joined the SEC this year and is No. 6 in the Scoreboard rankings, were tied for third place, each matching par with a 288.

   Texas was led by Lauren Kim, a sophomore from Canada and No. 21 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), as she earned a share of second place in the individual standings with Southern California’s Catherine Park, a junior from Irvine, Calif. and No. 6 in the Women’s WAGR, and LSU’s Else Svensson, a senior from Sweden, as all three were a shot behind Davis at 4-under 68.

   Another Big 12 representative, Kansas State, No. 27 in the Scoreboard rankings, was alone in seventh place with a 1-over 289 total.

   Following Tennessee and Northwestern in the tie for eighth place was Southern California, like Oregon a member of the Big Ten’s new West Wing and No. 9 in the Scoreboard rankings, as the Trojans were alone in 10^th place with a 4-over 292 total.

   Southern California was led by Park, who finished in a tie for second place behind Zhang in the individual chase as a freshman in the 2023 NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

   Defending national champion Stanford, in its first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference, has been the No. 1 team in the Scoreboard rankings throughout the wraparound 2024-2025 season and was coming off a runaway victory in the Norman Regional.

   But the Cardinal struggled, by their standards, in the opening round at La Costa as they landed in a tie for 10^th place with SEC power LSU, No. 12 in the Scoreboard rankings, each recording a 5-over 293.

   Leading the way for Vanderbilt was Tillie Claggett, a junior from The Woodlands, Texas, and Ava Merrill, a sophomore from Johns Creek, Ga., both of whom were among the group tied for fifth place with a 3-under 69.

   Lynn Lim, a junior from Gallatin, Texas, gave the Commodores a third player inside the top 10 as she signed for a 2-under 70 to join the group tied for 10^th place.

   Sara Im, a sophomore from Duluth, Ga., was the final counter for Vanderbilt as she was among the group tied for 64^th place after opening with a 2-over 74.

   Tolentino, who starred scholastically at Lenape High in South Jersey, opened with a 4-over 76 and was in the group tied for 94^th place.

   Purdue senior Natasha Kiel, a New Hope resident who was a scholastic standout at George School, opened with a 6-over 78 and was in the group tied for 123^rd place. Kiel helped the Boilermakers survive a playoff in the Lubbock Regional to reach the NCAA Championship.

   Purdue, out of the Big Ten and No. 41 in the Scoreboard rankings, was in 26^th place in the team standings after opening with a 15-over 303.