HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. - Catholic women's golf improved on its day one score by 24 strokes, moving up two spots at the NCAA Championships after 36 holes of action. Teeing off early this morning, the Cardinals are one of 23 teams to get entirely through day two as play was suspended due to darkness with six teams left on the course.
After an opening round score of 370 yesterday afternoon, Catholic settled in at the NCAA Championships, posting a score of 346 on Wednesday morning. The Cardinals are +132 for the tournament, six shots back of Aurora in 24th place. The Cardinals hold a one-shot advantage over SUNY Cortland.
Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year Brooke Smith continues to lead the way for Ed Dolan's squad, carding an 83 on Wednesday to move 12 spots up the leaderboard into a tie for 85th. Smith made 10 pars on her way to improving her Tuesday round by six shots. Smith is 21st in the field so far this week in par three scoring with an average of 3.13 shots per par three. She is just one over par on par threes through two rounds.
Classmate Lauren Wright made a similar push on the second day of the tournament, moving up 12 spots into a tie for 102nd after improving by six shots with an 85 this afternoon. Wright poured in four birdies this afternoon, posting a four on the 440-yard par-five seventh, a three on the 315-yard par-four ninth, a two on the 150-yard par-three 12th, and a three on the 305-yard par-four 16th. She also had three pars on the day. Wright is one of 35 players in the field with four or more birdies so far.
Lauren Lombardo kept with the theme of improvement on day two, shaving nine shots off of her Tuesday 95. Lombardo moved up 11 spots and now sits in a tie for 120th at 35 over par. Lombardo had seven pars on the day for Catholic.
Avery Mrak was two shots better on Wednesday, posting a 92 with six pars while Tyler Zierski improved by 10 shots, carding a 99 with three pars and a birdie on 16.
Fourth-ranked George Fox is currently the leader in the clubhouse with a two-day score of 629, five shots ahead of eighth-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Top-ranked University of Redlands is in a tie for eighth, 18 shots off the leaders.
The six teams that did not finish play this evening will take to the course at 6:45 tomorrow a.m. before Third Round action begins. Catholic is scheduled to tee off around 7:50 tomorrow morning.
