Pair of Bluegrass Natives Sit in the Top Five after 36 Holes at Valspar Augusta Invitational
AUGUSTA, Ga. – The University of Kentucky women’s golf team is in third place after 36 holes at the Valspar Augusta Invitational in Forest Acres Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, on Saturday. The Wildcats paired a 3-under in the morning round with a 2-over in the afternoon round for a 1-under-par 575 tournament total ahead of the final round on Sunday.
Two players – and two Kentucky natives – are 2-under and in the top five on the individual leaderboard, just one stroke behind second place and two strokes behind the lone leader.
C.A. Carter, a sophomore from Lexington, Kentucky, turned in the best round of her college career Saturday morning, a 3-under-par 69. Her scorecard featured an impressive four birdies, including two on par-5s, one on a par-4 and one on a par-3, and just one bogey, while she spent most of the first round flirting with the lead. In her second lap around the golf course, she turned in a 1-over-par 73.
Her teammate, roommate and fellow Bluegrass native, Cathryn Brown, had the same scores but in reverse order.
The junior from Eddyville, Kentucky, first recorded a 1-over this morning, then she came back with a 3-under in the second round to climb 16 spots up the leaderboard. In fact, her 3-under tied for the best score in the second round.
If their positions hold, it’ll be Carter’s first finish in even the top 10 in her college career, while it would be Brown’s – who is ranked 51st in the nation, according to Scoreboard powered by Clippd – fifth finish inside the top 10 this season and her third finish in the top five this season.
Brown continues to lead the team with 11 rounds of par-or-better this season, while Anastasia Hekkonen is just behind her now with nine.
Hekkonen was one of two players, along with Carter, in the young lineup to assemble an under-par first round at -1. The sophomore, who also is a top 100 player in the country at No. 96, paired that with a +1 in the second round to go even-par 144 overall for T16.
Raleygh Simpson turned in her best round this season – through 16 rounds total – with a first-round, even-par 72 to kick off the Valspar. During the first round, she momentarily found herself in the top 10. In the second round, she recorded a 3-over, still a top five round for the sophomore’s career, to assemble a 3-over-par tournament total to land in T26.
Karlie Campbell had an uncharacteristic 5-over in the first round but she shed two strokes off that for a 3-over in the second round. The sophomore, who led the team in its previous tournament at the Spartan Sun Coast Invitational less than two weeks ago, is 8-over through 36 holes and is right under the top 50 at T46.
The Wildcats will take on the final round in a shotgun format Sunday. Kentucky will tee off with leader Missouri (-12), second place Furman (-3) and fourth place Indiana (+7) beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Fans are encouraged to follow along with live scoring by visiting https://scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/239528/scoring/team.
Scorecard
T4 Cathryn Brown 73, 69 … 142 (-2)
T4 C.A. Carter 69, 73 … 142 (-2)
T16 Anastasia Hekkonen 71, 73 … 144 (E)
T25 Raleygh Simpson 72, 75 … 147 (+3)
T46 Karlie Campbell 77, 75 … 152 (+7)
3 Kentucky 285, 290 … 575 (-1)
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