Feb. 13, 2011
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The spring season for the Kentucky women’s golf team got off to a strong start Sunday as the Wildcats posted the second lowest score in program history to finish the first round at the UCF Challenge in Sorrento, Fla., in fourth place.
The Wildcats posted a 1-under par, 287 team score in Sunday’s first round. It is the second lowest score for UK since the 1987-88 season when records began being kept. The Cats shot a 4-over par, 284 in the final round of the Challenge at Onion Creek in the 2009-10 season.
“I am very proud of my team for how they played and for how they carried themselves on the golf course today,” UK head coach Golda Johansson Borst said. “This was a great way for us to start the season. Overall, they played smart and stuck to our game plan. All of them were faced with adversity in their rounds and they all fought through it and stayed strong until the end.”
Sophomore Ashleigh Albrecht led the way for Kentucky by shooting a career-best, 6-under par, 66. Albrecht’s 66 is the second lowest round in school history to Kristin Vincent’s 5-under par, 65 at the Challenge at Onion Creek in November of last season.
Albrecht began the round with a birdie on No. 2, a 469-yard par five, before dropping in an eagle on the 473-yard par five seventh hole to move to 3-under par. On the back nine, Albrecht continued her consistent play by birdying the 11th, 13th and 15th holes to finish with a bogey-free 6-under par, 66.
“Ashleigh played solid all day today and I think her making her approach for eagle from 59 yards out on the seventh hole really propelled her round,” Borst said. “She has grown so much over these last few months and I think she is starting to understand what she needs to do to play great golf.”
Albrecht is tied with Coastal Carolina’s Jessica Alexander at the top of the leaderboard, three strokes ahead of third place.
Albrecht’s career-round comes on the heels of her victory at the Harder Hall Invitational in Sebring, Fla., in early January. Albrecht shot a course record 9-under par, 63 in the opening round of the Harder Hall, and won the tournament with a final score of 10-under par. The Harder Hall was not an NCAA sanctioned event.
Junior Ashlee Rose had Kentucky’s second lowest score with a 1-over par 73. Rose birdied the sixth and ninth holes on the front nine to go out in 34. Rose found trouble on the back nine, but finished with a birdie on the par four 18th hole and sits in a tie for 23rd place out of the tournament’s 92 competitors.
Sophomores Heather Lott and Megan Moir each carded 2-over par, 74s Sunday to finish the first round in a tie for 33rd.
Kentucky played the first round with an adjustment to its lineup. Originally, sophomore Betsie Johnson, Kentucky’s scoring average leader for the fall season, was in the Cats’ team scoring lineup, but due to a shoulder injury was moved to play as an individual. Johnson switched with freshman Liz Breed who moved into the five-member lineup. Johnson is not playing in the UCF Challenge because of the injury. Breed carded a 3-over par 75 Sunday to find herself in a tie for 45th place.
The field will begin Monday’s second round at 8:30 a.m. ET and complete 18 holes. Tuesday’s final round will begin at 8:45 a.m. with a shotgun start.
Check UKathletics.com for second and third round coverage of the UCF Challenge and all Kentucky women’s golf news.
UCF Challenge
Feb. 13-15
RedTail Golf Club (Par 72 – 6,079 yards)
After round one
Ashleigh Albrecht 66 – 66 (-6)
Ashlee Rose 73 – 73 (+1)
Heather Lott 74 – 74 (+2)
Megan Moir 74 – 74 (+2)
Liz Breed 75 – 75 (+3)
*Betsie Johnson W – W (–) (shoulder)
KENTUCKY 287 – 287 (-1)
*Competing as an individual
