Wildcats Battle Heat, Layoff in First Round at Clover Cup
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MESA, Ariz. – Shaking off the rust from more than a month-long layoff and battling scorching conditions in Arizona, the Kentucky women’s golf team shot a 301 (31-over par) on day one of the Clover Cup at Longbow Golf Club.
The Wildcats are tied for ninth place with Cincinnati through the first 18 holes but within striking distance of the top five.
Florida State and Arizona State have lived up to their top-five national ranking, leading the tournament with scores of 9-under par and 7-under par, respectively. Courtney Tibiletti from Houston and Julienne Soo of Oklahoma are tied for the individual lead at 6-under par.
The second round will continue Saturday at 11 a.m. ET. Live scoring will continue to be available throughout the tournament at BirdieFire.com.
“We got off to a tough start today but settled down once we got into the round,” head coach Golda Johansson Borst said. “There are a lot of birdie opportunities out there and we need to play with some confidence out here.
“We know we have some ground to make up and the only way to do that is to continue to create opportunities and stay tough like we did on the back nine today. We battled all the way to 18 and we will continue to battle over the next two days.”
Traveling more than 1,800 miles to play in this week’s tournament, the Wildcats have had to deal with a drastic change in weather conditions. UK left wintry conditions in Lexington for temperatures that reached as high as 93 on Saturday in Mesa, Arizona.
Friday was also the Wildcats’ first competition since early February, but it starts a stretch of three tournaments in four weeks before the Southeastern Conference Championship.
A pair of freshmen, Josephine Chang and Sarah Shipley, led the Wildcats on day one with a par of 75s.
Chang was 3-over through her first seven holes but rebounded nicely to go even par the rest of the day thanks to two birdies. It was her best round since shooting a 75 at the Cardinal Cup in late October.
Shipley closed her round in strong fashion with two birdies over the last four holes. The Kentucky freshman duo is tied for 32nd.
Also tied for 32nd is junior Grace Rose. The Nicholasville, Kentucky, native has been as good as anyone on the team of late with three of her last six rounds at even par or better. On Friday she was even par through the opening nine holes.
The ever-reliable Isabelle Johansson fired an opening-day 76. It was just the fourth time in her last 10 rounds the Sala, Sweden, native failed to shoot even par or better. Given Johansson’s success this season – she’s recorded three top-five finishes – odds are she’s in store for a bounce-back day on Saturday.
Sophomore Claire Carlin, appearing in the just the fourth event of her career and the second in 2016-17, opened the tournament with an 85.
Longbow Golf Club is playing at 6,184 yards this week with a par of 72. The course opened in 1997 and was redesigned in 2003. The course only yielded four team under-par scores.
This weekend marks UK’s first ever appearance in the sixth year of the Clover Cup.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s golf team, follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
