Cathryn Brown Leads 81-Person Field after 36 Holes at Spartan Sun Coast Invitational
SARASOTA, Fla. – Cathryn Brown is pacing the 81-person field after 36 holes at the Spartan Sun Coast Invitational, firing off rounds of 68 and 69 to go 7-under Sunday. Playing on the Palm Aire Champions Course at the Palm Aire Country Club (par 72, 6,191 yards) in Sarasota, Florida, Brown is alone at the top of the individual leaderboard ahead of the final round on Monday.
The University of Kentucky women’s golfer had a near-perfect scorecard through 36 holes, turning in a 4-under-par 68 in the first round this morning – the second-best performance of her college career – and a 3-under-par 69 in the second round this afternoon – the third-best performance of her college career.
In the first round, Brown collected five birdies and just one bogey on the golf course, while in the second round, perhaps even more impressive, she recorded three birdies and no bogeys.
Through 33 rounds in her two years at UK, she has never had back-to-back rounds in the 60s. In fact, she only has had two rounds in the 60s total, including her career-best 66 (-6) hauled in last fall.
Brown, just a sophomore from Eddyville, Kentucky, is recently coming off a personal-best, tied-for-fourth-place finish just two weeks ago at the Paradise Invitational. There, she put together three rounds under par to turn in a 5-under-par 211. Brown, who this week is sitting at the top of the individual leaderboard on a 7-under through 36 holes at the Spartan Sun Coast Invitational, has gone as low as 8-under through 54 holes in her college career.
The Wildcat is in the hunt for her first tournament title, sitting just one stroke ahead of Kary Hollenbaugh of Ohio State in second place and two shots ahead of Audrey Richer of Oklahoma in third place.
Including Brown, just five players in the 81-person field turned in two rounds under par Sunday.
Meanwhile, Kentucky is tied with Oklahoma State for 11th place in the tournament. As a team, UK went 11-over in the first round and just 5-over in the second round to form a 15-over-par 591, with just 18 holes to go.
Marta López Echevarría, the team’s lone senior, is in a tie for 51st place on a 7-over-par 151. Through the first 18 holes, she rallied a 4-over-par 76, and in the second 18 holes, she came up with a 3-over-par 75. A trio of birdies between the two rounds helped her overcome eight bogeys and a double on the par-4 No. 16, which she later pared in the second round.
Just a shot behind her are freshmen Karlie Campbell and Anastasia Hekkonen, who are each playing in just their third events of their college careers. Through the 36 holes Sunday, they each turned in 8-overs for a share of 55th place. Campbell made a big jump from her first-round 79 to her second-round 73, while Hekkonen also improved from her first-round 77 to her second-round 75.
Brooke Oberparleiter turned in a 78 this morning, a score that counted toward the team total, and a 77 in this afternoon to assemble an 11-over-par 155 on Sunday. She is in a tie for 72nd place ahead of the final round Monday.
Kentucky will tee off in the final round Monday beginning at 8:15 a.m. ET.
Big Blue Nation is encouraged to follow live scoring here.
Scorecard
1 Cathryn Brown 68, 69 … 137 (-7)
T51 Marta López Echevarría 76, 75 … 151 (+7)
T55 Karlie Campbell 79, 73 … 152 (+8)
T55 Anastasia Hekkonen 77, 75 … 152 (+8)
T72 Brooke Oberparleiter 78, 77 … 155 (+11)
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