Brown, Campbell, Carter Sit in the Ruth’s Chris Top 25 after R2
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Wildcats’ young lineup shaved off two strokes in their second round Saturday, moving up three spots on the team leaderboard at the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational at Finley Golf Club in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Following a 10-over first round on the prestigious track Friday, the University of Kentucky women’s golf team turned in an 8-over in the second round Saturday. UK formed an 18-over tournament total to find seventh place ahead of the final round Sunday.
UK will tee off in the final round beginning at 7:50 a.m. ET, going off the first tee paired with No. 2 Wake Forest and Michigan.
Kentucky is only three shots behind the host team and 16th-ranked North Carolina, who is just ahead in sixth place. Kentucky will have a tall task to jump into the top five by the end of the Ruth’s Chris, sitting 10 shots back of fifth place and 23 shots back of first place.
Southeastern Conference foe and 18th-ranked Auburn moved into first place after the second round, and though NC State was the only team under-par yesterday now Auburn is the only team under par today at 5-under.
Cathryn Brown turned in the team’s first scorecard under-par this weekend, going 1-under Saturday.
Starting on the back nine, she was 2-under through her first six holes before she recorded a double on the par-4 No. 16. However, she quickly recovered with another birdie on the par-3 No. 17. Making the turn to the front nine, she was even kill until a bogey on the par-3 No. 6 but again recovered with a birdie on the par-4 No. 7.
The junior from Eddyville, Kentucky, who is just 2-over through 36 holes, moved up 25 spots on the individual leaderboard to land in 13th place ahead of the final round Sunday.
Of her seven rounds this fall, Brown has been par-or-better four times. She also extended her team-high streak of 11 straight rounds contributed to the team total.
C.A. Carter, another Bluegrass native out of Lexington, put up the next best score of the lineup Saturday. Her 1-over in the second round was made up of four bogeys and three birdies. Three of her bogeys came in her first five holes but she used the next 13 holes to collect three birdies, nine pars and just one more bogey.
The sophomore has a 4-over tournament total and moved up 15 spots for a share of 22nd place after Saturday.
Karlie Campbell is just ahead of her with a 3-over tournament total for T17. After going even-par in the first round to lead the team, she went just 3-over in the second round on four bogeys and a birdie on the par-3 No. 14.
Despite tying a team high with four birdies during today’s round, Anastasia Hekkonen went 5-over in the second round Saturday. To go with those four birdies, she also experienced seven bogeys and one double on the par-4 No. 16. The sophomore is 9-over for the event, sitting in a share of 52nd place.
Raleygh Simpson matched her 8-over in the first round in the second round, too, piecing together a 16-over through 36 holes and is in a share of 71st place.
Big Blue Nation is encouraged to follow live scoring in the final round here.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s golf team, follow the team on X, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
