No. 6 Tigers with strong opening round at NCAA Championship

CARLSBAD, Calif. – No. 6 Women's golf began the NCAA Championship with an opening round of 285 (-3), which places them in a tie for third place in the field of 30 teams. Freshman Anna Davis continued her impressive play after winning the Auburn Regional by carding a 3-under 69.

"I saw a lot of maturity out of the team today," Auburn head coach Melissa Luellen said after the round. "I think the course played differently in the afternoon than it did in the morning. It got firmer and it seemed like it played a little bit shorter so we had to make some adjustments off the tees on the fly. I think we like the course and I think we have a good plan for the course so as long as we stick to our plan and stay committed, we'll have more good days."

After a slow start on the first two holes of the round, the Tigers heated up later in the day and ultimately tallied 16 birdies as a team. Auburn is five strokes behind 18-hole leader Clemson.

Davis picked up two birdies on the front nine, then recorded back-to-back birdies on No. 11 and No. 12 including a chip-in from just short of the green on the 11th hole. Davis extended her rounds under par streak to three after Friday's round and recorded her 11th round under par this season.
 

Up and in ❗️

Anna Davis cards an opening round of 3-under in Cali 💪#WarEagle pic.twitter.com/CRyOFoYHrj

— Auburn Women's Golf (@AuburnWGolf) May 18, 2024

Redshirt sophomore Casey Weidenfeld carded a 2-under 70 in her opening round which included four birdies. Senior Megan Schofill was 2-over through 12 holes at the Champions Course at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, but picked up three birdies in her final four holes of the round to finish at 1-under (71).  Schofill and Weidenfeld each recorded their 15th round under par this season on Friday.

Senior Anna Foster settled in after a 3-over start through her first two holes of the day to post a 75 (+3), which was the final counting score for the Tigers.

"I'm especially proud of Anna Foster for having a rough start and just never getting upset," Luellen said about the senior. "She's unflappable, just parring away. She had a lot of birdie looks but didn't make anything today so I think it bodes well for tomorrow."

Auburn played under cloudy but comfortable conditions on Friday afternoon during the opening round and will now play in the morning wave beginning just after 9 a.m. CT during Saturday's second round paired with players from LSU and UCLA.

"All of the top ranked teams are in the same boat as we are in, so I like that we're playing under the same conditions," continued Luellen. It's a quick turnaround. We'll get to bed as early as we can and get up. It'll be a very early morning but we know that is part of the deal here."

The championship format includes 30 teams and six individuals completing 54 holes of stroke play on Friday-Sunday. Then the top 15 teams along with the top nine individuals not on an advancing team will compete in one additional day of stroke play on Monday to determine the top eight teams for match play competition and the 72-hole stroke play individual champion.

The top eight teams after 72 holes of play will be placed into a bracket with the No. 1 seed playing the No. 8 seed, the No. 2 seed playing the No. 7 seed, the No. 3 seed playing the No. 6 seed and the No. 4 seed playing the No. 5 seed in match play. Three rounds of match play will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday to decide the national champion.

Live scoring of the second round will be available online at Golfstat.com and the GolfStat mobile app.

 
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