East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State’s women’s golf team shot a 5-over par 293 in the first round of the NCAA Championships, being played at Grayhawk Golf Course in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The Spartans teed off on the 10th hole at 7:05 a.m. PT (10:05 a.m. ET) on the par 72, 6,399-yard course at Grayhawk, playing alongside Georgia and Texas Tech.
The NCAA Championship features 54 holes of stroke play qualifying and then the top 15 teams and nine individuals (not on advancing teams) will play a final 18 holes to determine the individual champion and the top eight teams will advance to match play. On Tuesday, May 23, there will be 36 holes of match play and then the match play championship will take place Wednesday, May 24.
Half of the 30-team field teed off in the morning – with MSU starting on the 10th hole, playing alongside Georgia and Texas Tech – with the second half starting their rounds at 1 p.m.
“I think it’s always interesting when you’re in the morning wave because then you have to wait for the whole afternoon to see what happens,” Head Coach Stacy Slobodnik Stoll said. “I feel pretty good. We definitely made a bit of a rally on our back nine, which was the front. Little nerves on the 10 tee and that’s a tough starting hole, but I would say I’m quite pleased with our scores and where we’re at. We just have to be in that position to catapult us into the top-15 on Sunday. I think we’re feeling good.”
The Spartans started their round in the morning on the back nine and were 7-over par through nine holes, but rallied back on the front nine, with junior Leila Raines and sophomores Brooke Biermann and Katie Lu each registering a pair of birdies as the team played their final nine holes in 2-under par.
Lu was the top finisher for the Spartans, finishing at even-par 72. After bogies on the par-4 15th hole and the par-3 16th hole, she settled and had two pars before making the turn. After pars on the first three holes on the front, Lu birdied the challenging par 5, 500-yard fourth and added one more on the par-4 334-yard 6th hole and finished her day at even and tied for 35th place.
Biermann struggled on the back, with bogies on four of that last five holes, but birdied two of the first four holes on the front nine and finished her day at 1-over par 73, tied for 56th place.
Raines, meanwhile, finished her day at 1-over par…
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