Miami’s Sara Byrne top-scored with a two-under par round of 70 as the NCAA Regionals teed off across America on Monday.
The Douglas talent, who’s playing as an individual this week at PGA National in Palm Beach, traded four birdies with two bogeys to sit just one shot off the early pace set by Brook Biermann of Michigan State. LSU’s Aine Donegan is back in a tie for 16th at two-over.
Meanwhile at the Raleigh Regional, Beth Coulter gained confidence as the day went on in her NCAA post-season debut, finding a rhythm after two bogeys in her first three holes. A birdie finally dropped on the par four ninth hole, giving her momentum as she made the turn at one-over.
The Kirkistown Castle freshman was fantastic on the back nine, settling in nicely on her way to shooting one-under during the stretch. She managed to make par on every hole with the lone exception being a birdie on par five 15th hole. This allowed her to move back to even on the day, where she currently sits in a tie for 19th.
The Sun Devils sit in third place after the opening day, needing to secure a Top-5 finish after three days to advance to the NCAA Championship.
Also at Lonnie Poole, Lauren Walsh’s even par opener led the Wake Forest Women’s Golf team to a decent start. Walsh’s round was highlighted by an eagle on the par-five 11th hole and the Castlewarden ace finds herself in a share of 19th overnight. The Deacs finished the day in a tie for seventh at the end of the first 18 holes.
Unfortunately it wasn’t such a solid start for UCLA’s Annabel Wilson and Auburn’s Anna Foster with the Irish internationals each posting seven-over 79s at the San Antonio Regional to sit just inside the top-50 after round one.
From a team perspective, however, UCLA are just three back of Oklahoma State’s lead in T4 while Auburn can recover, albeit from a nine stroke deficit.
- Full scoring HERE
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