Three Wildcats Went Under Par, Marissa Wenzler Remains in the Top 10 after Clemson Invitational Second Round
SUNSET, S.C. – Three Wildcats went under par in the second round at the Clemson Invitational, as the team shed five strokes off its 2-over in the first round to form a 3-under in the second round at The Reserve at Lake Keowee in Sunset, South Carolina, on Saturday. The University of Kentucky women’s golf team has a 1-under tournament total and is in seventh place out of 16 teams.
UK got off to a hot start in the second round Saturday, at one point even sharing a tie for fourth place. The team settled in seventh place ahead of the final round, while it is just four shots off the top five and eight shots off the top three.
Southeastern Conference foe Vanderbilt remains in the lead after a 7-under in the second round to form a 15-under for the tournament. Five shots separate first place and second place, which is occupied by Clemson at 10-under and Texas A&M is in third place at 9-under.
Not only did Kentucky get off to a hot start, but the team also finished strong. On its final hole of the round, four of the five players recorded birdies on the par-4 No. 18, while Castle pared it.
Marissa Wenzler maintained her team lead through the second round, putting together a 1-under Saturday to go with her 3-under Friday. The graduate student had a trio of birdies and a couple of bogeys on the day, including rallying a birdie on her final hole the par-3 No. 18. She enters the final round 4-under for the event, in a tie for seventh place.
The Dayton, Ohio, native led Kentucky in its most previous tournament on a 2-under and a T19 finish at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate. She is now in contention for her third straight top-20 finish and her fourth of the season.
Just behind her in the individual standings is teammate and fellow graduate student Jensen Castle.
She recorded a 1-over in the second round, collecting just one more bogey than she did birdies. Her eager start in the first round Friday, though, helped her stay in the mix with a 2-under for the tournament and a share of 15th place.
Cathryn Brown was the star of the show Saturday, assembling a team-best, 2-under in the second round. The rookie rallied four birdies on hole Nos. 3, 5, 9 and 18, while she also took a couple of bogeys on hole Nos. 4 and 17. Of both her bogeys, she earned a birdie on the very next hole, a testament to her resiliency.
Brown, a freshman from Eddyville, Kentucky, improved to 2-over for the event and jumped an impressive 24 spots on the individual leaderboard to find T37.
Laney Frye also followed up her 76 in the first round with an under-par mark in the second round. She improved to 3-over at the Clemson Invitational and jumped 16 spots on the board to land in T45.
The senior got off to thrilling start Saturday, going 3-under through her first five holes on back-to-back birdies on holes Nos. 1 and 2 and again on No. 5. Frye then lost her progress in the middle of her round with three bogeys but ended the round on a birdie on the par-4 No. 18.
Brooke Oberparleiter also proved her resiliency in the second round Saturday, going 6-over through 16 holes but then carding two straight birdies on Nos. 17 and 18 to finish off her scorecard. They marked her first birdies of the tournament thus far. That helped the freshman card a 4-over in the second round for a 11-over in the tournament and a share of 77th place.
The entire field will tee off in a shotgun format for the final round Sunday at 9:30 a.m. ET, as Kentucky is paired with LSU, Maryland and Michigan State.
Live scoring for the final round can be accessed here.
Scorecard
T7 Marissa Wenzler 69, 71 … 140 (-4)
T15 Jensen Castle 69, 73 … 142 (-2)
T37 Cathryn Brown 76, 70 … 146 (+2)
T45 Laney Frye 76, 71 … 147 (+3)
T77 Brooke Oberparleiter 79, 76 … 155 (+11)
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.
