Carolina Golfers Sixth At Tar Heel Invitational

Friday, October 7

Chapel Hill, N.C.

TBA

North Carolina

Tar Heel Invitational

October 7, 2011 | Women's Golf

By: UNC Athletic Communications

Oct. 7, 2011

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -
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The UNC women's golf team is in sixth place after the first day of play in the Tar Heel Invitational being played at UNC Finley Golf Course. The Tar Heels are playing host to a very strong field as 13 of the 18 teams are ranked in the top 25 in the country. The 5th-ranked Tar Heels fired a 2-over-par 290 on Friday. Two Tar Heels, Casey Grice and Jackie Chang, are tied for 16th place in the individual race.

"It was a great day to have the Tar Heel Invitational," said Tar Heel head coach Jan Mann. "Our team played well with the exception we did not finish well. The last hole really got us. It won't happen tomorrow and we hope that we'll make up some shots. I feel confident that they're hitting the ball well."

Sophomores Chang, from Paradise Valley, Ariz., and Grice, from College Station, Texas, both finished at even par 72. Chang, ranked 28th nationally, fired three birdies, a bogey, and finished with a double bogey on hole 18. Twelth-ranked Grice shot a birdie and a bogey on the front nine, and held par the last 12 holes. Sophomore Katherine Perry and senior Allie White both finished tied for 26th place shooting a 1-over-par 73. Perry, from Cary, N.C., carded two birdies and a bogey on the final three holes while White, from Lancaster, Ohio, shot two birdies and two bogeys on the front nine. Catherine O'Donnell, a senior from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., finished the day tied for 59th, shooting a 4-over 76, recording three birdies.

Three Tar Heels are playing as individuals in the tournament. Junior Courtney Gunter, from Matthews, N.C., is tied for 26th place after the first round. She fired two birdies and a bogey on the front nine, for a 1-over 73. Maia Schechter, a freshman from Tacoma Park, Md., finished tied for 64th, hitting a birdie and bogey on the front nine, good for a 5-over 77. Junior Michelle Ahn, from Chapel Hill, is 96th after shooting a 13-over 85.

Defending champion and eighth-ranked Alabama grabbed the first-round lead, firing a 7-under-par 281. The Crimson Tide were 11-under at one point, and all of the four counting scorers shot even par or below.

"I thought it was really solid," said Alabama head coach Mic Potter. "I'm especially pleased to see our freshmen shooting under par in their first college tournament. It was an all around solid showing."

LSU and Wake Forest are tied for second place in the 18-team field, shooting a 4-under 284. Auburn is fourth place at 1-under 287, and South Carolina is fifth at 1-over 289, one shot ahead of the Tar Heels.

Three players are tied for first place in the individual race. Cheyenne Woods from Wake Forest, Katie Burnett from South Carolina, and Madelene Sagstrom from LSU each shot 4-under-par 68. Four players are tied for fourth place at 3-under 69 - Wake Forest's Olafia Kristinsdottir, Auburn's Marta Sanz, Alabama's Hannah Collier and Brooke Pancake, and Michigan State's Caroline Powers .

The 54-hole event continues through Sunday at UNC Finley Golf Course which features a par 72, 6,285-yard layout. Live scoring is available on TarHeelBlue.com and Golfstat.com. Admission is free and the public is welcome to come out and see some fantastic golf from some of the top teams in the nation.