The NCAA Championship was pretty fortunate in the weather
department with minimal delays through six men’s and four women’s regional
tournaments – until Saturday.
The threat of severe weather halted play in the second round
of the women’s NCAA Championship at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville,
Ark. Saturday and the players were never able to get back on the golf course when
play was suspended for the day.
Duke’s Ana Belac, a junior from Slovenia, was one of the few
top individual contenders to complete her second round and she fired a
4-under-par 69 over the 6,397-yard, par-73 Blessings layout after opening with
a 3-over 76 Friday to get into the clubhouse with a 1-under 145 total.
That left Belac in a tie for third on a leaderboard
populated by players with varying parts of their rounds complete or, in some
cases, having never teed off. Looks like they’re planning to get back on the
golf course at 10 a.m. CDT. That doesn’t seem like enough time to complete the
second round and turn around and play the scheduled third round, but we’ll see.
Belac led the way for a surge by the Blue Devils, No. 3 in
the latest Golfstat rankings, to the
top of the team leaderboard. Duke had carded a 13-over 305 in Friday’s opening
round and was 11-under for Saturday’s second round when play was halted,
leaving it a 2-over, seven shots clear of top-ranked Southern California, the
Pac-12 champion.
The Trojans, who had opened with a 14-over 306 Friday, also
had it going when play was halted, going 5-under to that point, leaving them at
9-over. No. 2 Texas, which had shared the lead with No. 10 Arkansas after each
team posted a 10-over 302 in Friday’s opening, was 1-over for Saturday’s second
round and 11-over, two shots behind Southern Cal.
Reigning national champion Arizona, ranked fourth, was
another shot behind Texas in fourth place at 12-over as the Wildcats were
even-par for their round. Which means the top four teams in the latest Golfstat rankings were occupying the top
four spots in the team standings.
Arizona was led by Bianca Pangdanganan, a senior from the
Philippines who was even-par through 16 holes, which enabled her to hang on to
her lead in the individual standings at 4-under. Pangdanganan, one of the
heroes of the Wildcats’ run to the national championship a year ago, had
grabbed a three-shot lead in the individual standings with her opening round of
4-under 69.
Arkansas, behind its senior leader Maria Fassi of Mexico and
the No. 3 player in the Women’s WAGR, was 3-over for the day, which, combined
with its opening round of 10-over 302, left the Razorbacks a shot behind
Arizona in fifth at 13-over.
Fassi, the reigning Annika Award winner playing on her home
course at The Blessings, was 2-under for her round through 11 holes after
opening with a 1-under 72 Friday. That left her at 3-under, a shot behind
Pangdanganan.
Three more of the Pac-12 rivals of Southern Cal and Arizona
accounted for the next three spots in the team standings.
No. 7 Stanford, which had opened with a 12-over 304, was
2-over for Saturday’s second round, leaving the Cardinal in sixth place at
14-over. No. 14 Arizona State and No. 18 Washington never got out of the
starting gate Saturday. Their opening rounds of 18-over 310 and 19-over 311,
respectively, left them in eighth and ninth places.
Arkansas’ Southeastern Conference rival Auburn, ranked 13th,
was 1-under for its round after opening with a 21-over 313 and shared ninth
place with No. 22 Purdue, a perennial Big Ten power, at 20-over. The
Boilermakers, who opened with a 20-over 312 Friday, never got started Saturday.
The field of 24 teams was scheduled to be cut to 15 teams
following Sunday’s third round with the top eight teams following Monday’s
scheduled fourth round qualifying for match play. Stroke play was cut to 54
holes two years ago in dreadful weather at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove,
Ill. Pretty sure all 24 teams were allowed to complete 54 holes when stroke
play was shortened to three rounds.
Belac wasn’t the only Duke golfer to get it going Saturday.
Miranda Wang, a redshirt sophomore from China, was 2-under
for her round through 16 holes, which left her tied with Stanford’s Albane
Valenzuela, a junior from Switzerland and No. 8 in the Women’s WAGR, at
even-par. Wang had opened with a 2-over 75 Friday.
Jaravee Boonchant, a sophomore from Thailand and No. 25 in
the Women’s WAGR, was 2-under through 17 holes, which left her in a group of
six players tied for ninth at 1-over. Boonchant had opened with a 3-over 76
Friday.
Also making a big move for Duke was Gina Kim, a freshman
from Chapel Hill, N.C. who, like Belac, completed her round, carding a 3-under
70. Kim had opened with a 78, so her solid round Saturday left her at 2-over
146 and among the group tied for 15th.
Virginia Elena Carta, a senior from Italy, had struggled to
an 82 in the opening round, but bounced back with a 2-under 71 Saturday. Carta’s
153 total left her among a large group of players tied for 58th at
7-over. Carta captured the NCAA individual title as a freshman in 2016 at
Eugene Country Club.
Two players with some golf to play in the second round
joined Duke’s Belac in a tie for third at 1-under.
Fassi’s teammate Kaylee Benton, a senior from Buckeye,
Ariz., had opened with a 74 and was 2-under through 12 holes of her round
Saturday. Benton took eventual champion Kristen Gillman to the 19th
hole before falling in the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur last summer
at The Golf Club of Tennessee.
Florida’s Sierra Brooks, a junior from Orlando, Fla. and No.
24 in the Women’s WAGR, was 3-under through 11 holes after opening with a
2-over 75 Friday. Brooks was the runnerup in the 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur at
Portland Golf Club.
Stanford’s Valenzuela, who played four rounds after making
the cut at this spring’s ANA Inspiration, the LPGA’s first major championship,
had opened with a 1-over 74 and was 1-under through 12 holes to join Duke’s
Wang in a tie for seventh at even-par.
Two of the other five players who joined Duke’s Boonchant in
the tie for ninth at 1-over got out on the course Saturday.
Bangdanganan’s teammate at Arizona, Haley Moore, a senior
from Escondido, Calif., was 2-over through 17 holes after opening with a 1-under
72 Friday. Auburn’s Kaleigh Telfer, a sophomore from South Africa, was 2-under
through 11 holes after opening with a 3-over 76.
Three other players who were at 1-over – Purdue’s Inez
Wanamarta, a sophomore from Indonesia, Washington’s Sarah Rhee, a senior home
girl from Seattle, and Arizona State’s Allesandra Fanali, a freshman from Italy
– never got their second rounds started.
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