Cats Have Ground to Make Up at the Bryan; Chang Leads Colonel Classic
BROWNS SUMMIT, N.C. and RICHMOND, Ky. – The Kentucky women’s golf team will have some catching up to do after the first round of action at the Bryan National Collegiate. Closer to home, at the Colonel Classic, the rest of the field will have to do the same with UK junior Josephine Chang out in front.
It was a busy Friday for the Wildcats with all eight players on the roster in action across two different tournaments. Although the team had a difficult first round in Browns Summit, North Carolina, Chang, one of three individuals playing in Richmond, Kentucky, provided a big lift with an afternoon surge at the Colonel Classic that put her in first place heading into Saturday’s finale.
Adversity hit hard for the majority of the five Wildcats at Bryan Park Champions Golf Course (par 72, 6,305 yards) in North Carolina for one of the spring’s most competitive stops. Senior Claire Carlin got off to a solid start with a 2-over-par 74, but the Wildcats will hope for better results Saturday in the second round after beginning the three-day, 54-hole tournament with a 305. UK ended the first round tied for 12th place at 17-over par.
The team could have used Chang’s round Friday after she fired a career-low 67 in the second round of the Colonel Classic to move into first place at 4-under par overall. Chang was up to the first-day challenge of 36 holes at the University Club at Arlington (5,885 yards, par 72) with six birdies in the second round. She leads by one over a pair of golfers from Eastern Kentucky, host of the Colonel Classic.
“We had a tough day today (at the Bryan), no easy way to put it,” said UK assistant coach Brian May, filling in for head coach Golda Borst, who had her second child Thursday night. “I believe our girls were prepared well going into this event, but today we lost our confidence. Our girls did not believe in themselves today for all 18 holes and that shows in our scores. But this does not define who we are. We have identified areas in which we must improve and the girls are determined to play like Wildcats tomorrow.
“I got a peek at the EKU scoreboard and saw that our individuals were playing well. I’m extremely happy at Josephine’s start today. She has put in a lot of thankless hours working on building her confidence and it is showing up this week. Looking forward to our girls finishing off that tournament well tomorrow.”
The Bryan will resume Saturday at 8:30 a.m. with the second round with live scoring at GolfStat.com. The final round of the Colonel Classic will tee off at 9 a.m. with a shotgun start. Fans can follow live scoring there at GolfStat.com.
May hopes UK can bounce back Saturday in North Carolina in a deep and talented field. Of the 16 teams, two are ranked in the top 25 of GolfStat’s rankings with another four in the top 50.
No. 12 Wake Forest, which is co-hosting alongside UNC Greensboro, has raced off to a commanding start at 14-under par, 11 shots clear of second-place NC State. A trio of three Wake Forest players lead the field at 5-under par, 4-under par and 4-under par, respectively.
Carlin, Kentucky’s captain, is UK’s nearest competitor at 2-over par, in a tie for 25th place. Her round featured two birdies with just four bogeys. Her 74 is her second-best round of the spring.
Senior Leonie Bettel and junior Sarah Shipley are tied for 46th at 4-over par. Bettel, who captured her third championship of the season two weeks ago at the Clover Cup, was among the leaders once again early in the round with a 1-under 35 on her first nine holes (the back nine). The front nine, however, tripped her up.
Sophomore Rikke Svejgård Nielsen is tied for 71st at 7-over par. Freshman Casey Ott, who entered the tournament with UK’s best average of the spring, had an uncharacteristically off day and is at 15-over par, tied for 95th.
In Richmond, Chang was caught fire on her second of two rounds Friday. After opening with a 1-over-par 73, Chang went to work in the afternoon. She rolled in birdies on No. 18 (where she started her second round), No. 2 and No. 4 before a bogey on No. 5. She was near perfect after that.
Chang went 3-under par the rest of the way with no bogeys and three birdies, all coming over the final five holes. She’ll be seeking her first career individual championship on Saturday after shattering her 18-hole career low Friday by four strokes.
Sophomore Sarah Fite and freshman Ryan Bender are also in Richmond playing as individuals. Fite is just outside the top 10 and in a tie for 13th after a 75 in the first round and a 73 in the second round. She’s at 3-over par overall.
Bender is tied for 25th at 8-over par with a 75 and a 77.
Kentucky is making its fourth appearance in the last five seasons at the Bryan with past success. UK finished in sixth place in 2015 and tied for fifth in 2016. Bettel tied for sixth on the individual leaderboard last season, one of her now-nine career top-10 finishes.
This week’s team tournament serves as an important one as UK tries to continue its climb up the rankings in search of an at-large spot in the NCAA Tournament for the seventh time in the nine-season Borst era. With only a couple of tournaments left, Kentucky checks in at No. 58 this week in the rankings, on the border of the at-large cutline from previous seasons.
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.
