University of North Carolina Athletics
Women Golfers 8th At LSU Tiger Classic; Cloots Shares Lead
March 27, 2015 | Women's Golf
BATON ROUGE, LA. – The North Carolina women's golf team is in eighth place after the first round of the LSU Tiger Golf Classic played at the par-72 University Club. Carolina fired a 25-over-par 313 on Friday. Tar Heel Leslie Cloots owns a share of the individual lead as she fired an even par 72.
“Strong winds made for very tough conditions today,” said Tar Heel head coach Jan Mann. “Leslie managed to have a great round. Her play was very solid. Lexi and Bryana finished strong with two birdies each on the finishing holes. We are looking forward to tomorrow's round.”
Cloots birdied the last hole to move into a tie for the lead at even par 72. The sophomore from Antwerp, Belgium, fired three birdies and three bogeys on Friday. Freshman Lexi Harkins, from Crystal Lake, Ill., carded a 7-over 79 in the first round and is tied for 35th place. She posted two birdies on two of the last four holes, five bogeys and two double bogeys on the day. Bryana Nguyen, a freshman from Columbia, Md., birdied her last two holes to finish at 8-over 80 in a tie for 48th place.
Cheni Xu, a freshman from Zhuhai, China, carded a 10-over 82 and is tied for 71st place while Maia Schechter, a senior from Takoma Park, Md., shot an 85 on Friday and is tied for 83rd place. Junior Elizabeth Mallett, from Sutton Coldfield, England, is competing as an individual and is tied for 61st after shooting an 81.
Host LSU grabbed the lead over the 16-team field by firing a 9-over-par 297. TCU is three strokes back in second place at 12-over 300 and Tulane is another two strokes back at 14-over 302. Denver is in fourth place with a 303 total, Mississippi State is fifth at 306, UCF is sixth at 307, Notre Dame is seventh at 312, Carolina is eighth at 313, NC State is ninth at 314 and Oklahoma rounds out the top 10 with a 315 total.
Carolina's Cloots, TCU's Kelly McGovern and Oklahoma's Hannah Wood are all tied for the individual lead at even par 72. Three players are one stroke back in a tie for fourth place – LSU's Madelene Sagstrom, Mississippi State's Chieh Jessica Peng and Denver's Elyse Smidinger. Rounding out the top 10 are four players deadlocked in seventh place at 2-over 74 – Tulane's Madison Opfer and Emily Penttila, TCU's Alexandra Bonetti and LSU's Elise Bradley.
The 54-hole event continues through Sunday and is being played at The Univeristy Club which features a par 72, 6,251-yard layout. Second-round play begins Saturday morning with the Tar Heels teeing off the #1 tee at 8:30. Live scoring is available on GoHeels.com and Golfstat.com.
Players Mentioned
