Melgrati Cards Cats’ Best Round To Open Silverado Showdown

NAPA, Calif. – In a challenging day for the entire field of the Silverado Showdown, No. 22 Arizona Women’s Golf wrapped up the opening day in a tie for 14^th place at 22-over par. Northwestern, who leads the event after the first round, was the only program in the 17-team field to break par on Monday. The Wildcats were led by sophomore Carolina Melgrati who ended her day at 3-over and in a tie for 25^th.

“Obviously today tested everyone out on course, and our team did not have as strong of a start as we would have liked,” said head coach Laura Ianello. “Our bogey-free play on the 13^th, 16^th and 17^th holes showed we played better as they day went on, which created some momentum for us going into tomorrow’s second round. I look forward to seeing our group make the necessary adjustments on a variety of holes and post stronger scores in the second round.”

Arizona’s best hole of the day was the 491-yard, par-5 ninth hole, which saw the team sink four birdies and one par on.  The Cats’ strong play on the No. 9 hole was matched by quality scores on the course’s longest holes as the team capped the first round with the third-best mark in par-5 scoring.

Melgrati, one of the four Wildcats to birdie the ninth hole, hit her stride on the front nine. She sank birdie putts on the third and fourth holes before making par on the next three consecutive holes. The sophomore went on to birdie the last two holes before making the turn.

The Wildcats are in a crowded pack of teams on the leaderboards, which includes nine teams separated by a total of ten strokes. They will look to repeat their second-round climb in last year’s event as they tee off on Tuesday. Arizona improved its score by 10 strokes from the first to the second round in the 2022 Silverado Showdown.