Fayetteville, Ark. – The No. 17 Virginia women’s golf team never teed off to start its second round of play at the NCAA Championships due to severe weather that suspended play at 12:15 p.m. CT at the Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark.
 
UVA senior Morgan Gonzales (Chandler, Ariz.) was on the 10th tee waiting to start her round as the Cavaliers’ first player on the course when a delay was instituted for the afternoon tee times. Shortly afterwards, a non-immediate suspension was announced that allowed players on the course to finish their current holes before they had to evacuate to shuttle vans. Play was officially suspended in anticipation of a strong line of thunderstorms and strong winds that entered the area later in the afternoon.
 
Virginia will start its second round Sunday morning when play resumes. The Cavaliers enter the second round tied for 13th place at 22-over 314.
 
The teams that started Saturday’s play in the morning took advantage of a more favorable course setup. None of the 12 teams finished their rounds but third-ranked Duke charged to the top of the leaderboard by shooting 11-under par with just three unfinished holes. Top-ranked USC was standing at five-under par when play was suspended.
 
With eighteen players having completed the second round, the scoring average was 73.67 compared to 79.93 for day one’s competition. All but one hole on the course had a lower scoring average on Saturday compared to Friday before play was suspended.
 
After 54 holes of play the top 15 teams and nine individuals not on one of those teams are scheduled to play an additional 18 holes of stroke play on Monday (May 20). Following that, the individual medalist will be crowned. Eight teams will advance to match play with quarterfinals and semifinals on Tuesday (May 21) and the final two teams will compete for the team championship on Wednesday (May 22).