May 10, 2012
The San Diego State women's golf team is in a three-way tie for 18th place with Augusta State and Chattanooga after the opening day of the 2012 NCAA East Regional in State College, Pa. The Aztecs, who are making their third-straight regional appearance, combined for a first-round 23-over 311 on Thursday at the par-72, 6,253-yard Penn State Blue Course.
Junior Gina Clark (Murrieta, Calif.) is the only SDSU player in the top 70 in the 126-participant field, as she carded a 3-over 75 to tie for 39th. She started the afternoon at the 10th tee and fired six consecutive pars before bogeying the 16th and 17th holes. After making the turn to the front nine at 2-over, Clark had two more pars and a bogey and then got to 1-over with back-to-back birdies. She gave those two strokes back, however, as she made bogey on each of the final two holes to end the round with a 75.
Each of the Aztecs' remaining four golfers is within two strokes of one another. Freshman Amy Alston (Mission Viejo, Calif.), who is making her NCAA debut, is tied for 72nd place with an opening effort of 6-over 78, highlighted by a team-best three birdies. Senior Malin Enarsson (Gothenburg, Sweden) and junior Christine Wong (Richmond, B.C.) both double bogeyed the par-4 seventh hole to go from five to 7-over and are tied for 89th place. Junior Alessia Knight (Bologna, Italy) was holding steady at 4-over par with two holes remaining, but then carded a quadruple bogey which dropped her into a tie for 99th with an 80.
South Carolina, which was seeded eighth out of the 24 teams at the east regional, sits atop the leaderboard by four strokes over No. 1 Alabama at even-par 288. Texas A&M's Katerina Ruzickova had six birdies and just one bogey to post the best 18 holes by any golfer on the day with a 5-under 67 and owns a one-stroke lead over second-place Juliet Vongphoumy of Maryland.
San Diego State will once again be paired with Maryland and Kent State for Friday's second round, starting from the first hole at 7:30 a.m. ET/4:30 a.m. PT. The top eight teams and low two individuals not on those squads will advance out of the east regional to the NCAA national championships in Franklin, Tenn., May 22-25.
2012 NCAA East Regional
State College, Pa.
Penn State Blue Course - Par 72, 6,253 yards
First-Round Results - 18 Holes
Team Scoring (Top 6 of 24, plus SDSU)
1 South Carolina 288 (E)2 Alabama 292 (+4)3 Florida 294 (+6)4 Washington 296 (+8) Texas 296 (+8) Texas A&M 296 (+8)T-18 San Diego State 311 (+23)
Individuals (Top 3 Individuals out of 126)1 Katerina Ruzickova, Texas A&M 67 (-5)2 Juliet Vongphoumy, Maryland 68 (-4)3 Justine Dreher, South Carolina 70 (-2)
San Diego State GolfersT39 Gina Clark 75 (+3)T72 Amy Alston 78 (+6)T89 Christine Wong 79 (+7)T89 Malin Enarsson 79 (+7)T99 Alessia Knight 80 (+8)