Jensen Castle Cards Career Low at Mason Rudolph Championship
FRANKLIN, Tenn. – Kentucky women’s golfer Jensen Castle was in her U.S. Women’s Amateur championship form during the first round of the Mason Rudolph Championship on Friday.
Recapturing some of the summer magic that saw her win the United States Golf Association’s national championship in August, Castle roared out of the gates at the Vanderbilt Legends Club (par 72, 6,475 yards) in Franklin, Tennessee, for a 6-under-par 66.
Not only did Castle post the best score of her college career, it was one of the best rounds in school history and has put her just a shot behind co-leaders Auston Kim from Vanderbilt and Hsin-Yu Lu from Oregon.
Fueled by Castle’s career-high eight birdies, the Wildcats posted a team score of 3-over-par 291 – the best of the young season – and are in seventh place heading into Saturday’s second round. No. 22 Oregon has the first-round lead with a score of 11-under par, five shots ahead of tournament host Vanderbilt.
“We have lots of positives to take away from today,” UK head coach Golda Borst said. “I know the final score could have been better and we struggled to finish, but we played the par 3s much better today and we hit more greens overall as a team. We need to keep adjusting our pace on the greens. We had a good practice session after the round to get some better speed control and I look for us to improve on that tomorrow morning.”
Second-round action begins Saturday at 9:30 a.m. ET. Live scoring will continue to be available at Golfstat.com.
Castle posted the seventh-best round in the program’s record book with a bonanza of birdies on Friday. She rolled in four on each side, but the most impressive stretch took place in the middle of the day as she made the turn from the back nine to the front nine. There she carded six birdies in an eight-hole stretch, including four straight on 17, 18, 1 and 2.
The junior from West Columbia, South Carolina, held sole possession of the lead at that point before Kim and Lu made their moves.
“I’m so excited for Jensen,” Borst said. “She’s been due for a low round and she executed some big-time shots today to give herself lots of great looks at birdies. She did really well staying in each shot, and I know she’s looking forward to getting back out on the course in the morning with her teammates.”
Castle’s presence near the top of the leaderboard should come as no surprise after the summer she enjoyed. She beat some of the top players in the country in early August en route to the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur title and then played a key part in Team USA’s Curtis Cup victory in Wales. She has posted seven top-20 finishes with two top-10 showings representing UK, but the school’s single-season stroke average record holder is seeking her first collegiate win.
Sophomore Laney Frye recorded her second round of par or better this season with an even-par 72 on Friday. The 2021 Southeastern Conference All-Freshman selection posted five birdies on the round but was offset by five bogeys. Frye reached as low as 2-under par in the round but closed with bogeys on two of the last four holes to finish at even par, tied for 22nd.
With the exception of a triple bogey on her second hole and a double bogey on her final hole, fifth-year senior Rikke Svejgård Nielsen enjoyed a solid day at the course. Take away the 5-over-par score on those two holes and she was 1-under par the rest of the round. At 4-over par overall, she is tied for 50th.
Junior María Villanueva Aperribay was even par through her first nine holes but played her second nine at 5-over par. With a 77, she is tied for 60th.
Junior Marissa Wenzler is making her 2021-22 season debut after missing the opener at the Wolverine Invitational due to an illness. Wenzler fired a 6-over-par 78 and is tied for 72nd.
Kentucky is coming off a ninth-place finish earlier this month at the Wolverine Invitational in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Despite the slow start, expectations remain high for the Wildcats after their breakthrough NCAA Championship run in the spring and a great summer individually. All five players who helped UK qualify for the NCAA Championship Finals for the first time in 29 years are back this season and in action this weekend.
The Mason Rudolph Championship field is a challenging one. With a considerable SEC presence – seven teams in all – five of the 15 teams in the field are ranked in the latest Women’s Golf Coaches Association Coaches Poll.
This weekend’s appearance will mark the second of four fall tournaments for the Wildcats.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s golf team, follow the team on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
