Boca Raton, Fla. – Eleventh after the opening 18 holes on Monday, the Western Carolina women's golf team carded the fourth-best team score of the second round, advancing three spots into a three-way tie for eighth place after 36 holes at the spring-opening FAU Winter Warmup.
The Catamounts are just nine strokes outside the team top five entering the final 18 holes at the par-72, 6,017-yard Osprey Point Golf Club. WCU is paired with golfers from Eastern Kentucky and tournament-host Florida Atlantic in Tuesday's 7:45 am shotgun start.
WCU freshman Victoria Ladd leads three Catamount individuals inside the top 30 overall, shooting rounds of 78 and 73 for an opening-day score of 151 in a five-way tie for 22nd overall. The Greensboro, N.C., native climbed 13 spots in the second round after cutting five strokes off her score. Ladd is tied for fifth in the tournament field with a team-best 26 pars and is also tied for third in the tournament field in par-5 scoring at 4.80 (-2).
Sophomore Madison Isaacson and freshman Bailee Twiford are tied with seven other golfers in 30th-place at 153. With a first-round score of 5-over par 77, Isaacson slipped one spot from 29th over the second 18 holes despite trimming a stroke with a 4-over par 76. Twiford jumped five positions by knocking three strokes off her opening-round 78 for a second-round score of 75.
Rounding out WCU's scoring five are junior Maya White in a tie for 50th at 157, rebounding from an opening-round score of 84 to shoot 73 in the second round, while senior Brianna Plummer is tied for 66th overall at 163 (83-80). White posted a team-best four birdies on Monday – three coming in her second round – while Plummer charted a combined three birdies in the first two rounds.
Playing unattached as an individual, junior Hazel Martin is tied for 56th overall in the spring season opener with consecutive rounds of 80 on Monday. Martin matched White with a team-best four birdies.
Seton Hall carries a 10-stroke lead over second-place Arkansas State, 584-to-594, into Tuesday's final round. Xavier is third at an even 600 (299-301) with Dartmouth (602) and Quinnipiac (604) rounding out the top five.
Mia Kness of Seton Hall and Yale's Ami Gianchandani are tied for the individual lead after 36 holes with matching scores of 1-under par 143. Kness moved up four spots after the opening round to the top of the leaderboard.
Live scoring of the final round is available
online at GolfStat.com.
T8 – Western Carolina – 316-297 = 613
T22 – Victoria Ladd (3) – 78-73 = 151 (+7)
T30 – Madison Isaacson (1) – 77-76 = 153 (+9)
T30 – Bailee Twiford (5) – 78-75 = 153 (+9)
T50 – Maya White (4) – 84-73 = 157 (+13)
T66 – Brianna Plummer (2) – 83-80 = 163 (+19)
T56 – Hazel Martin (ind.) – 80-80 = 160 (+16)