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EUGENE, Ore. — BYU’s second day at the NCAA women’s golf championships went better than the first, even if it was the first day for the rest of the field.
Alex White carded a 2-under-par 70 in Friday’s opening round to lead BYU to a 6-over 294 performance to finish tied for 11th at Eugene Country Club in Oregon.
Sophomore Kendra Dalton added an even-par 72 for the 26th-ranked Cougars, who got a 3-over 75 from Brooklyn Hocker and a 5-over 77 from Lea Garner.
White shot four birdies around the turn Friday, sneaking in at 1-under on holes No. 8-11 while filling out her card with five birdies and three bogeys. The junior TCU transfer nailed her first birdie on the 331-yard, par-4 eighth hole and capped her run by two-shotting the 152-yard, par-3 12th. She also had a birdie on the par-3 16th hole before bogeying the final hole to collect her 70.
White finished tied for 11th individually to lead BYU, while Dalton is in the top 30 with her even-par effort.
Alex White 70 (2-under)
Kendra Dalton 72 (par)
Brooklyn Hocker 75 (3-over)
Lea Garner 77 (5-over)
Rose Huang 81 (9-over)
Oklahoma State leads the tournament with a 4-under 284, paced by Chih-min Chen’s individual third-place 69. UCLA is second at 286, followed by Washington and Southern California (289). Arizona rounds out the top five at 291.
The Wildcats’ Haley Moore and Purdue’s August Kim are tied for the lead after shooting 4-under 68 on Friday’s opening day.
On Thursday, BYU competed alone to register a Sunday round for the first time in NCAA Tournament history. Dalton led the Cougars with a 2-under 70 Thursday that accommodated BYU’s policy of not competing on Sunday. The sophomore from Wake Forest, North Carolina, birdied the third, fifth and eighth holes before finishing the back nine with eight pars and one bogey in a consistent effort.
Garner finished Thursday at 1-over 73, followed by White’s 76, Rose Huang’s 79 and Hocker’s 81. BYU’s Thursday round will be added to the Cougars’ team score on Sunday after the rest of the field completes the same round with the same pin positions.
The top 15 teams after the first three rounds qualify for one additional round Monday, and the top eight teams advance to match play May 24-25 to decide the team title.
