March 5, 2012
TARZANA, Calif. - San Diego State women's golfer Christine Wong holds a two-stroke lead Monday after 36 holes of the Bruin Wave Invitational in Tarzana, Calif. Wong fired a 3-under 141, highlighted by an opening-round 68 and 11 combined birdies to help the Aztecs to fourth place in the team standings at 31-over 607 at the par-72, 6,131-yard El Caballero Country Club.
Wong and second-place Alina Ching of Pepperdine (-1) are the only two in the 80-golfer field to finish the first day under par. The Richmond, B.C., native is ahead on the individual leaderboard of five players ranked in the top 20 of the current golfstat.com individual national rankings and her 36-hole total is one stroke better than her previous season low of 142.
Wong's opening 68 tied as the low round on the day with Oklahoma State's Jayde Panos and included seven birdies with four in row on holes 13-16. The junior finished the first 10 holes of the second round at 2-under par with a pair of birdies and seven pars, but double bogeyed the par-4 second for the second time. Wong bogeyed three of the next six, but headed into the clubhouse with a birdie on the ninth hole for a 73.
Aztec senior Malin Enarsson (Gothenburg, Sweden) is also in the top 15, as her second-round 74 vaulted her from 34th into 15th with a 9-over 153. Junior Gina Clark (Murrieta, Calif.) is three strokes back with a 12-over 156 to tie for 34th, while redshirt freshman Kristina Lynn (Carlsbad, Calif.), who is competing as an individual in her first collegiate event, is tied for 42nd with a 158.
SDSU freshman Amy Alston (Mission Viejo, Calif.) started strong with an opening round 78, but dropped back into 44th with a second-round 81. Junior Alessia Knight (Bologna, Italy) recovered from a difficult first 18 holes to shave 14 strokes off her score with a 79 to put her in a tie for 70th.
Host and 22nd-ranked Pepperdine currently leads the team leaderboard by 11 strokes over eighth-ranked Oklahoma with a 12-over 588. Top-ranked UCLA, meanwhile, is just four strokes up on the Aztecs with a 27-over 603.
SDSU will be paired with UNLV and Stanford for Tuesday's final 18 holes starting at 7:40 a.m. PT. Live results are available on golfstat.com.
Bruin Wave Invitational
Tarzana, Calif., El Caballero Country Club - Par 72, 6,131 yards
Results Through 36 Holes
Team Scoring (Top 5 teams out of 15)
1 No. 22 Pepperdine 292-296-588 (+12)2 No. 8 Oklahoma State 293-306-599 (+23)3 No. 1 UCLA 300-303-603 (+27)4 No. 42 San Diego State 305-302-607 (+31)5 UNLV 306-303-609 (+33)
Individuals (Top 3 Individuals out of 80)1 Christine Wong, San Diego State 68-73-141 (-3)2 Alina Ching, Pepperdine 74-69-143 (-1)3 Grace Na, Pepperdine 71-74-145 (+1)
San Diego State GolfersT15 Malin Enarsson 79-74-153 (+9)T34 Gina Clark 80-76-156 (+12)T42 Kristina Lynn* 81-77-158 (+14)T44 Amy Alston 78-81-159 (+15)T70 Alessia Knight 93-79-172 (+28)*=competing as an individual