Cavaliers Remain in Ninth Place at NCAA Championships

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Owings Mills, Md. The third-ranked Virginia women’s golf team stayed in ninth place after the second round of play at the NCAA Championships at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md. The Cavaliers shot 14-over 302 for a 36-hole total of 607 at the midway point of the tournament.

Second-ranked UCLA shot the lowest round of the tournament, a 5-over 293, to wrestle the lead away from Denver. At 589, the Bruins are seven shots ahead of cross-town rival USC, the 2008 NCAA Champions. Denver shot 16-over 304 and dropped back to third place at 598. Among the other ACC schools in the field, North Carolina is tied for fourth at 600 while Wake Forest is seventh at 603. Duke finished the second round in 12th place at 609.

The Cavaliers’ second-round score was three shots better than their opening round effort. Virginia used birdies by Lene Krog, Kristen Simpson and Calle Nielson on the par-5 17th hole to finish the round on a strong note.

“We played better than we did yesterday, but saying that, I feel there are some strokes out there and I still don’t think we’ve put it together as a team,” said Virginia coach Kim Lewellen. “We have two more days to do that.”

Virginia was led Wednesday by Krog who shot 2-over 74. UVa’s top finisher at last year’s NCAA Championships, Krog started her round with a double-bogey but then reeled off seven pars and a birdie on the remainder of the front nine. She bogeyed holes 10 and 12, but managed birdies on 13 and 17 to get back to 1-over before ending the round with a bogey.

“It was nice to see Lene play well,” Lewellen said. “She definitely has the game to play well. Coming off of knee surgery in November and a couple of other injuries she has had, I think she has not gotten the rhythm of playing week to week without having to take some time off. She’s been able to do that recently and I’m hoping in the next two days she will get more comfortable on the course and we’ll see some low scores from her.”

Krog’s second round score was a four-shot improvement on her opening round 78. She is in 37th place on the leaderboard at 152. She is one shot behind teammates Nielson and Whitney Neuhauser. For the second straight day that duo matched scores, shooting 4-over 76. They opened the tournament with 75s. They are tied for 28th place after 36 holes.

Simpson improved her second-day score by a stroke, shooting 76 to stand 48th at 153. Joy Kim improved on her first-round score by two shots and is now 79th at 156.

By virtue of their ninth-place standing, the Cavaliers will join the tournament’s other leaders in the third round’s afternoon wave. Virginia will be paired with Wake Forest and LSU and will start at 12:50 p.m. from the 10th hole. Of the 12 teams playing among the leaders, nine are ranked in the top-10 of the current Golfstat rankings.

“I think playing in the last wave gives you a little confidence,” Lewellen said. “It allows you to see who you’re trying to beat. You’re playing with some really good players that you can feed off of. I think it gives you confidence to know you’re in that top half during the last two days.”

Lewellen’s team has made several strong finishes during tournament play this year and hopes to see similar results starting Thursday.

“We definitely do better towards the end of tournaments and it is usually on the last day,” she said. “I think we play with an attitude of confidence and excitement and that we’ve got nothing to lose. I think we play very well with that attitude. Will it start tomorrow? Hopefully we’ll say this is the second half and we’ll get out there and get some strokes back.”

The NCAA will webcast the 16th, 17th and 18th holes of the championship starting Thursday. The webcasts are scheduled from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the morning wave and 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. for the afternoon wave. Visit the women’s golf page on NCAASports.com for the link to the webcast.

Live scoring of the NCAA Championships is online at Golfstat.com. The 72-hole tournament concludes Friday.

NCAA Championships
Caves Valley Golf Club
Owings Mills, Md.
Par-72, 6,443 yards
Second Round Results

Team Results
1. UCLA (2) 296-293-589
2. USC (4) 301-295-596
3. Denver (14) 294-304-598
4. Oklahoma State (5) 303-297-600
4. Arizona State (1) 302-298-600
4. North Carolina (10) 299-301-600
7. Wake Forest (12) 303-300-603
8. LSU (7) 302-304-606
9. Virginia (3) 305-302-607
9. Alabama (6) 305-302-607
9. Purdue (9) 306-301-607
12. Duke (11) 308-301-609
13. Pepperdine (13) 312-298-610
13. Michigan State (17) 307-303-610
15. Arizona (20) 310-305-615
16. Tulane (29) 312-305-617
17. Tennessee (24) 307-313-620
18. UT Chattanooga (44) 316-307-623
18. Georgia (15) 316-307-623
20. New Mexico (22) 311-314-625
20. Texas (38) 314-311-625
22. TCU (27) 314-316-630
23. Ohio State (26) 323-311-634
24. UC Irvine (18) 320-316-636
Number in parenthesis is Golfstat ranking

Individual Leaders
1. Maria Jose Uribe, UCLA 75-66-141
2. Nannette Hill, Wake Forest 72-71-143
2. Lisa McCloskey, Pepperdine 74-69-143
2. Stephanie Sherlock, Denver 70-73-143
5. Jennifer Song, USC 72-73-145
6. Stephanie Connelly, UCF* 72-74-146
6. Maria Hernandez, Purdue 74-72-146
6. Pernilla Lindberg, Oklahoma State 74-72-146
9. Ginny Brown, Tennessee 72-75-147
9. Sydney Crane, North Carolina 75-72-147
9. Catherine O’Donnell, North Carolina 70-77-147
9. Dawn Shockley, Denver 77-70-147
9. Marta Silva, Georgia 75-72-147
*Individual competitor

Virginia
28. Calle Nielson 75-76-151
28. Whitney Neuhauser 75-76-151
37. Lene Krog 78-74-152
48. Kristen Simpson 77-76-153
79. Joy Kim 79-77-156