Wildcats Storm Near Front on Day 1 of Bettie Lou Evans Invitational
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Hosting its first tournament since 2011, the Kentucky women’s golf did not disappoint on the first day of the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational.
Led by seniors Grace Rose and Ale Walker, the Wildcats stormed in front of the leaderboard early in opening 18 holes of the tournament and sit in second place of the 16-team field at even par, behind only Notre Dame (4-under par). Rose and Walker are in a three-way tie atop the individual leaderboard at 3-under par with Toledo’s Pimchanok Kawil.
It’s early in the competition, but with 36 holes to play – all of which will be played Saturday – Kentucky has put itself in position to compete for its first team tournament championship since 2013 (“MO”Morial Invitational in September 2013) and its first individual tournament title since the fall of last season (Isabelle Johansson at the 2016 Minnesota Invitational).
“I feel really good,” UK head coach Golda Borst said. “We are right there, and to win a tournament you have to be right there in the hunt and in the mix. We put ourselves in that position and I’m really happy and proud of the girls.”
UK will try to win its 12th Bettie Lou Evans Invitational title and its second in a row when play resumes Saturday at the University Club (par 72, 6,221 yards). Originally scheduled as an 18-18-18 format on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the second and third rounds will now both be played Saturday because of inclement weather slated for Sunday.
Admission and parking will be free again at the University Club. Fans are encouraged to attend Saturday with beautiful weather expected again on Saturday. The forecast calls for temperatures in the low 80s with mostly sunny skies.
Teams will tee off Saturday at 8:30 a.m. and the third and final round will start immediately following the second round. Live scoring will continue to be available at GolfStat.com.
As Borst tells it, Kentucky’s seniors have been begging for Borst to bring back the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational for years. Borst did so and was hoping the seniors would deliver on the course in return.
Did they ever Saturday.
“I’m extremely proud of our seniors,” Borst said. “For them to handle their emotions — that’s why you call them seniors. It’s been four years in the making for Ale and they have been working on their games non-stop, both physically and mentally.”
Rose led the 96-player field with six birdies on her scorecard in the opening round for a 3-under 69. The 69 is her best score since shooting a 67 at the Landfall Tradition in 2016 and the second sub-70 round of her career.
The Nicholasville, Kentucky, native wasted no time getting into red numbers Friday with birdies on her opening two holes. She recorded four birdies on the front nine when she sunk a 15-footer at No. 9. She also made a 20-foot birdie at No. 2.
Walker was just as good as Rose en route to her career-best collegiate score. Just like Rose, she birdied the first two holes of her round and totaled four on the day with just one bogey, on the difficult par 5 15th.
The highlight of Walker’s day was on the U-Club’s signature eighth hole. A par 3 surrounded by water, Walker took the water out of play and nearly dropped it in the hole for a hole-in-one. She tapped the half-footer in for a birdie.
As co-hosts of the tournament (Indiana also served as a co-host), UK played its full roster of 10 this weekend with five eligible – Walker, Rose, Johansson, and juniors Claire Carlin and Leonie Bettel – for the team score. Of those 10, six are in the top 50.
Johansson, in a tie for 17th, is one of them. She showed incredible resiliency with a 1-over-par 73 despite not having her best stuff Friday. UK’s single-season stroke average record holder was at 4-over through eight holes after dropping her tee shot in the drink on No. 8, but she fought back on the back nine and birdied two of her final three holes.
Carlin (tied for 46th) rounded out the team scoring for UK with a 5-over 77. Bettel (tied for 72nd), Kentucky’s top finisher at the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship, couldn’t match her production from a few weeks ago and shot an 80.
Freshmen Sarah Fite and Claire Cameron led the group of Wildcat individuals in the opening round. Making their Kentucky debuts, they played with the consistency of a veterans en route to a pair of 76s. They’re both tied for 36th.
Sophomores Sarah Shipley and Josephine Chang each posted rounds of 79 and are tied for 61st. Redshirt sophomore Zoe Collins was the third Wildcat to make her UK debut Friday and is tied for 90th at 13-over par.
Now in its 28th season year, the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational was named after longtime UK head coach (1979 to 2001) and current director of operations (2002 to present) Bettie Lou Evans. UK has won the tournament 11 times, including the last time it was held in 2011. Previously known as the Wildcat Fall Invitational before dedicating it to Evans, the tournament has been in existence since 1979. It was played every year until a four-year break from 1998 to 2001. There were also one-year breaks in 2007 and 2010 before the current six-year gap.
This year’s field features a mix of local teams and postseason contenders. Four teams, including Kentucky, made NCAA regionals a season ago, but the Wildcats are the only team in the field that has won the Bettie Lou before.
In position to make a run at a championship Saturday, Borst said her team’s approach is no different despite a change in format to 36 holes.
“I personally love it,” Borst said. “I just talked to the team about that, the five in the lineup, and for us I think it’s an even better opportunity. We qualified over Labor Day and did 36 holes and we did really well in Knoxville with 36 holes. We’re strong, we’re fit. The stuff we’ve been doing in the weight room has been really helpful. We are mentally tough.”
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.
