With Walker pursuing her LPGA dream, North Carolina tied for fourth after opening round of Ruth's Chris Tar Heel Invitational

   With the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational teeing off Friday at the University of North Carolina Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, N.C., it was more about who was not there than who was.

   I can’t remember Brynn Walker, the two-time PIAA Class AAA champion at Radnor, not being in the starting lineup for North Carolina since she arrived on the scene as a prized recruit late in the summer of 2016.

   Walker is not in the lineup as North Carolina hosts the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational, although she has a legitimate excuse. Walker, winner of the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia Match Play Championship at her home course at St. Davids Golf Club this past summer, will be teeing it up in the LPGA Qualifying Tournament’s Stage II, which gets under way Monday at the Plantation Golf & Country Club in Venice, Fla.

   The top finishers, a minimum of 30, in Stage II will advance to the LPGA Q-Series, a marathon eight-round tournament over two weeks at the Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s No. 6 and No. 9 Courses. The top finishers at Pinehurst -- it was the top 35 in the inaugural Q-Series a year ago -- will earn LPGA Tour cards  for the 2020 season.

   Veteran North Carolina head coach Jan Mann knows that her senior leader needs to pursue her dream of a career on the LPGA Tour.

   “We’re excited for Brynn to have the opportunity,” Mann told the North Carolina website. ”We’re going to miss her in the lineup, it’s  tough to have one of our better players out of the lineup, but we are giving other individuals the opportunity to compete. I feel like we have a strong starting five, even with Brynn out of the lineup and we are excited to tee it up.”

   North Carolina’s Atlantic Coast Conference rival Wake Forest, the NCAA Championship runnerup last spring at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark., grabbed the lead after Friday’s opening round with a 6-under-par 282 over the 6,379-yard, par-72 UNC Finley layout.

   Despite losing Jennifer Kupcho to graduation and the LPGA Tour last spring, Wake Forest hasn’t skipped a beat and came to the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational off back-to-back tournament wins at the ANNIKA Invitational and the Lady Paladin Invitational.

   A couple of Southeastern Conference representatives, Kentucky and Alabama, were a shot behind the Demon Deacons in a tie for second place at 5-under 283.

   Host North Carolina was tied for fourth place with reigning Big Ten champion Ohio State, just two shots out of the top spot at 4-under 284. The Buckeyes were led by their sophomore standout Aneka Seumanutafa of Emmitsburg, Md., who grabbed the individual lead with a sparkling 6-under 66.

ACC power Duke, which defeated Wake Forest in the Final Match at The Blessings to claim the national championship last spring, was in a tie for ninth place in the elite 18-team field with the SEC’s South Carolina and the Big Ten’s Michigan at 5-over 293.

   Leading the way for Wake Forest was Siyun Liu, a senior from China who was among a trio of players tied for second place at 3-under 69, three shots behind Seumanutafa.

   Backing up Liu for the Demon Deacons was Rachel Kuehn, a freshman from Asheville, N.C. who was among the group tied for sixth place at 2-under 70.

   Emilia Migliaccio, a junior from Cary, N.C. and No. 12 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), was a shot behind Kuehn in the group tied for 15^th place at 1-under 71. Migliaccio represented the United States in the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru this past summer, earning the individual gold medal in the women’s competition and helping the U.S. strike gold in the mixed team competition as well.

   Lauren Walsh, a freshman from Ireland, was among the group tied for 24^th place at even-par 72. Rounding out the Wake Forest lineup was Letizia Bagnoli, a sophomore from Italy who was in the group tied for 50^th place at 2-over 74. Bagnoli was a key contributor to the Demon Deacons’ run to the NCAA Final Match last spring.

   Leading the way for North Carolina was Nicole Lu, a sophomore from Taiwan who joined Wake Forest’s Liu and Alabama’s Angelica Moresco, a junior from Italy, in the trio tied for second place at 3-under.

   Jennifer Zhou, a sophomore from China, backed up Liu as she was among the group tied for sixth place at 2-under 70.

   Ava Bergner, a junior from Germany, was among the group tied for 24^th place at even-par 72. Rounding out the North Carolina lineup were two freshmen, Kayla Smith of Burlington, N.C. and Krista Junkkari of Finland, who has been the Tar Heels’ top performer in the early going this season. Smith and Junkkari were among the group tied for 35^th place at 1-over 73.

   Another freshman, Aleks Golde of Atlanta, is competing as an individual and was among the group tied for 59^th place at 3-over 75. Senior Mariana Ocano of St. Petersburg, Fla. is also competing as an individual and opened with an 84 in her final appearance in the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational.