KAILUA-KONA, Hawai’i – After the Nanea Golf Club played favorable on Monday with seven teams shooting par or lower, challenging pin locations allowed the course hit back in Tuesday’s second round as only two teams broke par at the Pac-12 Preview. The Wildcats battled the conditions all day to end the day in fifth place at 1-over par. Arizona’s lowest score of the day came from graduate senior Gile Bite Starkute who shot even par to enter Wednesday’s final round in a tie for third place at 5-under.
“Today was a difficult challenge for us that we weren’t quite able to overcome, especially after the turn,” said head coach Laura Ianello. “We didn’t capitalize on the great momentum from yesterday’s round, but today is definitely a learning experience for our young ladies. They have shown time and time again that they can bounce back and grow from the difficulties of a round. I look forward to seeing that resiliency in tomorrow’s final round.”
The Wildcats kept their form on Nanea’s shortest holes, maintaining their overall lead in par-3 scoring average on Tuesday. The trio of Starkute, Julia Misemer and Charlotte Back were able to shoot even par or better on the back nine holes. Back sank two birdies and avoided a bogey after the turn on Tuesday while Misemer made par on all nine holes.
Arizona enters Wednesday’s final round two stokes behind fourth-place Washington. The trio of UCLA, Stanford and USC all have seven and eight stroke leads on the Wildcats. Starkute is in a three-way tie for third overall at 5-under, chasing down the Stanford duo of Paula Martin Sampedro and Sadie Englemann who are at 7-under and 6-under respectively.
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