University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
NCAA Regional Day 2
Tar Heels Tied For Seventh In NCAA Regional With One Round Left
May 8, 2018 | Women's Golf
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - The sixth-seeded University of North Carolina women's golf team is tied for seventh after Tuesday's round two of the NCAA San Francisco Regional at TPC Harding Park. Led by Brynn Walker and Bryana Nguyen, who shot a combined 3-under par down the back nine, the Tar Heels shot 4-over-par 292 for the round and are at 5-over for the tournament.
It was a cold, breezy and misty morning when the Tar Heels teed it off from No. 1 at 8 a.m. PDT, but the team finished the front nine at just 1-over par. The back nine, which features several long par-4 holes, then began to frustrate the team.Â
Junior Kelly Whaley, who was 3-under par through eight, shot 4-over through the next 10 holes. Freshman Ava Bergner, who shot a 70 in round one, was also challenged by the back, shooting 3-over down the back nine.Â
However, for the struggles that Whaley and Bergner had down the stretch, sophomore Brynn Walker and senior Bryana Nguyen found their groove down the same stretch. Walker entered the final nine holes at even par and then shot par or better on each of the holes down the back to shoot a 71 on the day. She now leads the team for the tournament at 1-under par and is in a tie for 12th.
"Brynn has been working hard," head coach Jan Mann said. "She went to see her swing coach recently and he gave her one thing to work on. And I think just having reassurance from her swing coach has been very helpful. She has been right there all along. It was just a matter of having the confidence to do it."
Nguyen's struggles came on the front stretch, shooting 3-over on the first eight holes. But thanks to five birdies on the final 10 holes, Nguyen got back to even-par for the round. She is at 4-over for the tournament and in a tie for 43rd.
"It was really good to see Bryana come back from 3-over after just a couple of holes," Mann said. "She came back and really played well, so that was great."
Whaley shot a 73 in round two and is in a tie for 19th at even-par for the regional. Bergner completed the scoring effort for the Tar Heels in round two, shooting a 76 and is in a tie for 29th at 2-over par.Â
Sophomore Mariana Ocano shot an 80 on Tuesday and is in a tie for 87th at 15-over par.
No. 4 Kent State (-2), No. 2 Stanford (-2), No. 1 UCLA (-1), No. 10 Ole Miss (+1), No. 14 Oregon (+1), and No. 5 Oklahoma State (+4) are the top six teams in the field after round two. No. 8 Louisville and the Tar Heels are both tied at 5-over in seventh.
"We always talk about letting winning take care of itself," Mann said. "And we will stay focused on the things we need to be focused on, but I'm sure they will grind. We are only seven shots out of first place. We are not going into tomorrow's round thinking we want to make the top six. We want to have the mentality that we want to win it."
ROUND 3: The final round of the NCAA San Francisco Regional will resume at 11 a.m. ET Wednesday. Carolina will tee off from hole 1 with No. 7 Colorado and No. 8 Louisville beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. Live scoring is available at Golfstat.com, fans can follow @uncwomensgolf on twitter for updates throughout the round and a full recap will be available following the conclusion of play.
TAR HEEL SCORES
T12 - Brynn Walker 72-71—143 (-1)
T19 - Kelly Whaley 71-73—144 (E)
T29 - Ava Bergner 70-76—146 (+2)
T43 - Bryana Nguyen 76-72—148 (+4)
T87 - Mariana Ocano 79-80—159 (+7)
Team Totals: 289-292—581, +5 (T7th of 18 teams)
TEAM LEADERBOARD
T1. Kent State 284-290—574 (-2)
T1. Stanford 287-287—574 (-2)
3. UCLA 280-295—575 (-1)
T4. Ole Miss 290-287—577 (+1)
T4. Oregon 287-290—577 (+1)
T6. Oklahoma State 291-289—580 (+4)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD
1. Hira Naveed (Pepperdine) 72-67—139 (-5)
T2. Andrea Lee (Stanford) 66-74—140 (-4)
T2. Ziyi (Emily) Wang (Stanford) 71-69—140 (-4)
(six players tied at 3-under)
