Selection Sunday for the NCAA Women’s Tournament is still
more than a week away, but the 54-hole ACC Championship teed off Friday to
highlight the start of a busy couple of weeks of conference tournament action
on both the men’s and women’s collegiate golf scene.
Virginia, No. 18 in the latest Golfstat rankings and looking to capture the ACC team title for a
second straight year, again found the 6,089-yard, par-72 Sedgefield Country
Club layout to its liking. The Cavaliers, led by a spectacular 6-under 66 from
Lauren Coughlin, a senior from Chesapeake, Va., fired a 5-under 283 to take an
11-shot lead over No. 3 Duke and No. 45 Wake Forest.
Coughlin’s teammate, Lauren Diaz-Yi, a junior from Thousand
Oaks, Calif., also broke par at Sedgefield, home of the PGA Tour’s Wyndham
Championship, with a 1-under 71 that gave her a share of fourth place.
Wake Forest, which has been coming on strong this spring,
was led by Jennifer Kupcho, a freshman from Littleton, Colo., who matched
Coughlin’s round with an equally brilliant 66 that featured an eagle on the
par-5 18th hole.
Also scoring for the Demon Deacons were Antonia Eberhard, a
freshman from Germany who is tied for 18th with a 75, Sierra Sims, a
junior from Austin, Texas who is tied for 27th with a 76, and
sophomore Erica Herr, the two-time PIAA champion from Council Rock North who is
tied for 38th with a 77.
Wake Forest posted a solid 6-over 294, where it was joined
by perennial ACC powerhouse Duke. The Blue Devils were led by sophomore Leona
Maguire, the No. 1 amateur player in the world from Ireland. Maguire is in
third place in the individual chase following a 2-under 70.
Joining Virginia’s Diaz-Yi in the group tied for fourth at
1-under 71 are Miami’s Daniela Darquea, a junior from Ecuador, and North
Carolina State’s Naomi Ko, a freshman from Canada.
Ko and the Wolfpack, No. 34 in the latest Golfstat rankings, are alone in fourth
place in the team standings at 9-over 267. North Carolina, ranked 46th,
and No. 47 Clemson are tied for fifth another shot back at 10-over 298.
It was a disappointing day for No. 37 Notre Dame, which
struggled in the breezy conditions at Sedgefield and sits in 10th
place with a 310 total.
Emma Albrecht, a freshman from Ormond Beach, Fla., led the
way for the Fighting Irish with a 3-over 75 that left her tied for 18th.
Talia Campbell, a senior from Dallas, is tied for 27th with a 76,
Maddie Rose Hamilton, a freshman from Louisville, Ky., is tied for 43rd
with a 78, another freshman, Isabella DiLisio, the 2013 PIAA Class AAA champion
at Mount St. Joseph, is tied for 52nd with an 81 and Jordan
Ferreira, a junior from University Place, Wash. Is 57th with an 83.
The Southeastern Conference Championship also teed off
Friday and top-ranked Alabama jumped right in front with a 2-under 286 that gave
the Crimson Tide a six-shot lead over Florida.
Lakareber Abe, a sophomore from Angleton, Texas, and Emma
Talley, a senior from Princeton, Ky., both carded 2-under 70s over The Legacy
Course at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Ala. and are two of
the four players tied for third in the individual standings. Talley is the
reigning NCAA individual champion and winner of the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur.
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