Three Wildcats Sit Inside Top 20 at NCAA East Lansing Regional
EAST LANSING, Mich. – The University of Kentucky women’s golf team is just two shots outside the cut line after methodically chipping away at an early deficit in the first round at the NCAA East Lansing Regional on Monday. The Wildcats are in eighth place on a 4-over-par 292 through 18 holes at Forest Akers Golf Club (par 72, 6,325 yards) in East Lansing, Michigan.
UK began the round on No. 10, playing in 50-degree temperatures with a cool breeze. Despite the elements and an early deficit, three players concluded the first round inside the top 20.
Pacing the team at her first NCAA Regional, Marta López Echevarría, a junior from Roquetas de Mar, Spain, turned in a 2-under-par 70 on Monday. Her scorecard tied the second-best, 18-hole round of her college career. It is second best to her 65 (-5) that she recorded in the final round at the Southeastern Conference Championship on April 14.
López Echevarría made the bulk of her charge on the front nine, when she recorded four birdies on Nos. 1, 3, 5 and 6. She is tied for fourth place, five shots behind leader Bailey Shoemaker of Southern California.
Laney Frye was neck-and-neck with López Echevarría, until the All-American and All-SEC selection suffered a bogey on her last hole of the round on the par-3 No. 9.
She shined in the middle of her round, putting together four birdies through seven holes to get to 2-under. That stretch included three straight birdies on Nos. 17, 18 and 1. Her birdie on the par-4 No. 18 featured a chip-in from the back, left edge of the green.
The senior from Nicholasville, Kentucky, is in a tie for 12th place after 18 holes.
Sitting just one stroke behind her is Marissa Wenzler, who turned in an even-par 72 on Monday. Wenzler was leading the team through the back nine after three birdies and one bogey, making the turn 1-under. She then suffered a bogey on the par-4 No. 1, but she responded with eight straight pars to finish her round.
The graduate student is sitting in a tie for 19th place.
Both Cathryn Brown, a freshman from Eddyville, Kentucky, and María Villanueva Aperribay, a graduate student from San Sebastián, Spain, turned in identical scores of 7-over-par 79. They are sitting in a tie for 57th place following the first round.
The Wildcats will tee off No. 1 in the second round Tuesday beginning at 9:10 a.m. ET, paired with Michigan State and Indiana.
Scorecard
T4 Marta López Echevarría 70 (-2)
T12 Laney Frye 71 (-1)
T19 Marissa Wenzler 72 (E)
T57 Cathryn Brown 79 (+7)
T57 María Villanueva Aperribay 79 (+7)
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