Wildcats Remain in Sixth After Starkute’s Bogey-Free Round

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Behind Gile Bite Starkute’s bogey-free round of 71, Arizona Women’s Golf held its position in sixth place after Tuesday’s second round of the NCAA Albuquerque Regional. Arizona was 7-over on Tuesday after a 5-over par opening round on Monday to sit in a tie for sixth at 12-over heading into Wednesday’s final round. The Wildcats will need to move up into the top four of leaderboards on Wednesday to advance to the NCAA Championships.

“Today was a steady round for us with a lot of good shot selection and execution by our team,” said head coach Laura Ianello. “We focused on limiting the mistakes from round one, and I feel like we accomplished that this morning. We are right in the thick of things for the final advancing spots heading into tomorrow’s final round, which means we have put ourselves in a position to be successful.”

Arizona, who is tied with Sam Houston State in sixth place, is part of a five-team pack of teams competing for the final spot in the top four. The group of TCU, Florida, Arizona, Sam Houston State and Louisville are separated by a total of eight strokes. The Wildcats will enter Wednesday’s finale four strokes behind fifth-place Florida and five strokes behind TCU in fourth place.

 

Clean ?? living and a bogey-free round for Gile to lead us on Day 2?? of NCAA Regionals. #BearDown pic.twitter.com/2IEh0RLqO9

— Arizona Women’s Golf (@ArizonaWGolf) May 10, 2022

Starkute’s round of 71 began with 11 consecutive pars before a birdie on the par-4, 373-yard 12^th hole. The bogey-free round on Tuesday was the first of her college career.

Freshman Carolina Melgrati is Arizona’s top player heading into the third and final round at 1-over par, which puts her in a tie for 12^th. She is followed by sophomore Maya Benita (+3, T-21^st) and Starkute (+4 T-28^th).

The Wildcats’ chase for fourth place and a ticket to the NCAA Championships begins at 7 a.m. (MST) on Wednesday alongside the two teams directly ahead of them in the standings in TCU and Florida.