Wildcats Sit Second Place at the Terps Invitational, 18 Holes Remaining Monday
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The University of Kentucky women’s golf team landed in second place after 36 holes at the Terps Invitational at the University of Maryland Golf Course (par 72, 6,244 yards) in College Park, Maryland, on Easter Sunday.
The young lineup, which includes one junior and four sophomores, turned in a 3-over in the first round and an even-par in the second round to sit 3-over and in second place for the event thus far. They’re six shots behind leader Virginia (-3) and 11 shots in front of third-place Michigan (+14).
The field played through the elements Sunday, having to come off the golf course midway through the first round for thunderstorm threats before they played the rest of day in scattered showers.
That didn’t affect Anastasia Hekkonen though, who went 2-under in the first round to outright lead the 90-person field after 18. On her second lap around the golf course, she put together a 2-over for a combined even-par 144. The sophomore, who already has one individual title this season, is in second place just three shots back of the leader.
With her 2-under in the first round, she improved to double-digit, par-or-better rounds this season with 10. That is second most on the team behind Cathryn Brown (13).
Karlie Campbell is neck-and-neck with Hekkonen, boasting a 1-over-par 145 tournament total for a share of fourth place. In fact, all players in the lineup are neck-and-neck, each performing just one stroke better than the other.
Raleygh Simpson went 2-over in a tie for 11th place, Brown is 3-over in a tie for 14th place and C.A. Carter is 4-over at T20.
Campbell had a seven-stroke difference from her first round (76) to her second round (69), which also marked the best round of the lineup Sunday. It tied her second-best, 18-hole round in her college career, while it marked her third round in the 60s in 2025-26.
Raleygh Simpson, who has seen major improvement in her stroke average throughout the season, turned in two rounds of 1-over. The sophomore was averaging a 76.9 stroke average through her first 12 rounds of the season but including her back-to-back 71s today, she has averaged a 72.7 stroke average over her last nine rounds.
Meanwhile, just one week after coming off third place at the Cardinal Classic, she is in the hunt for her second straight finish inside the top 15. Prior to the Cardinal Classic, she had never had a performance in the top 15 through nine tournaments in her college career.
Brown recorded a 3-over in the first round and bounced back with an even-par in the second round, while fellow Bluegrass native Carter tacked on a 1-over in the first round and a 3-over in the second round. With Brown’s two scores, she extended her streak of contributing to the team total in 31 straight rounds.
Competing as an individual, Sammy Paradise, a junior transfer out of Daytona State College, rallied a +4 this morning and a +7 in the afternoon. She is +11 for the event and in a share of 63rd place.
Kentucky is set to tee off in the final round – and its final round of the regular season – Monday at 8:30 a.m. ET in a shotgun format paired with Virginia and Michigan. Live scoring will be available here.
The field can expect improved temperatures in the mid-60s and sunny skies Monday.
Scorecard
T2 Anastsia Hekkonen 70, 74 … 144 (E)
T4 Karlie Campbell 76, 69 … 145 (+1)
T11 Raleygh Simpson 73, 73 … 146 (+2)
T14 Cathryn Brown 75, 72 … 147 (+3)
T20 C.A. Carter 73, 75 … 148 (+4)
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