NORMAN, Okla. – The Sun Devil Women's Golf team completed their first round at the Norman Regional as the 2019 NCAA Postseason kicked-off Monday morning.
Arizona State shot 290 (+2) as a team over the first 18 holes, good enough for an eighth place after the first day of competition. With plenty of golf left to play, the Sun Devils sit just three strokes back of sixth-place, the threshold to advance to the NCAA Championships.
Junior Olivia Mehaffey continues her strong play, as she is currently tied for second place in the individual race after posting a 69 (-3) on the first day. Mehaffey, who was named the Pac-12 Golfer of the Month for April earlier this morning, finished with four birdies and played a bogey-free front nine.
"We had a solid day led by Olivia's 69," Head Coach Missy Farr-Kaye remarked after the round. "We did a lot of things well today and made very few errors."
The third seed University of Florida (284, -4) sits at the top of the leaderboard, with No. 13 seed NC State (285, -3) enjoying a quick start that has led them to a second-place finish after day one. Top-seeded Texas (287, -1) is in a tie for third with four other teams while the No. 2 seed Wake Forest (290, +2) is even with the Sun Devils, claiming a share of eighth place. Individual competitor Michaela Fletcher of Memphis leads the field after claiming the only 68 (-4) of the first day of the Norman Regional.
A strong ending to the round gives Alexandra Forsterling some confidence going into round two tomorrow. The freshman birdied the last two holes (9 & 10) of the day to help her finish in a tie for 34th with a 73 (+1), the second-best round by a Sun Devil.
Madison Kerley followed Forsterling's lead on the ninth hole by collecting a birdie of her own. It was one of two birdies for Kerley on the back nine as she found more success as the day went along. Kerley and freshman Alessandra Fanali are both tied for 45th after registering 74's (+2). Fanali proved nerves weren't an issue in her first NCAA Tournament, remaining even through the front nine thanks to a birdie on 14. She managed to sink one of only five birdies on the 14th hole during the first day.
Sophomore Raquel Olmos enjoyed a solid stretch of golf on the back nine. She was one-under on holes four through eight, recording a birdie on a par-three sixth hole. With the battle for a spot in the Top-6 being so tight, there is little margin for error at this stage. "All we need is for a few more putts to go in," Coach Missy Farr-Kaye mentioned as she gets her team prepared for the second round.
Once again, the Sun Devils will tee-off at the same time as today every ten minutes starting at 5:30 a.m. MST with the fifth member beginning their round at 6:10 a.m. MST. Arizona State will start on the front nine, kicking things off on the first hole paired with seventh-seeded Purdue (7th) and second-seeded Wake Forest (T-8th). Individual tee times are listed in the table below and can be found at this link.
Subsequent tee times for the final round of the Norman Regional for teams, players within teams as well as individual competitors will be re-paired based scores after the first two rounds.
Live results for the regional will be available on Golfstat.com. Tournament Central can be found at http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=17530. For more information on the Norman Regional, visit the Championship Central page.
Arizona State shot 290 (+2) as a team over the first 18 holes, good enough for an eighth place after the first day of competition. With plenty of golf left to play, the Sun Devils sit just three strokes back of sixth-place, the threshold to advance to the NCAA Championships.
Junior Olivia Mehaffey continues her strong play, as she is currently tied for second place in the individual race after posting a 69 (-3) on the first day. Mehaffey, who was named the Pac-12 Golfer of the Month for April earlier this morning, finished with four birdies and played a bogey-free front nine.
"We had a solid day led by Olivia's 69," Head Coach Missy Farr-Kaye remarked after the round. "We did a lot of things well today and made very few errors."
The third seed University of Florida (284, -4) sits at the top of the leaderboard, with No. 13 seed NC State (285, -3) enjoying a quick start that has led them to a second-place finish after day one. Top-seeded Texas (287, -1) is in a tie for third with four other teams while the No. 2 seed Wake Forest (290, +2) is even with the Sun Devils, claiming a share of eighth place. Individual competitor Michaela Fletcher of Memphis leads the field after claiming the only 68 (-4) of the first day of the Norman Regional.
A strong ending to the round gives Alexandra Forsterling some confidence going into round two tomorrow. The freshman birdied the last two holes (9 & 10) of the day to help her finish in a tie for 34th with a 73 (+1), the second-best round by a Sun Devil.
Madison Kerley followed Forsterling's lead on the ninth hole by collecting a birdie of her own. It was one of two birdies for Kerley on the back nine as she found more success as the day went along. Kerley and freshman Alessandra Fanali are both tied for 45th after registering 74's (+2). Fanali proved nerves weren't an issue in her first NCAA Tournament, remaining even through the front nine thanks to a birdie on 14. She managed to sink one of only five birdies on the 14th hole during the first day.
Sophomore Raquel Olmos enjoyed a solid stretch of golf on the back nine. She was one-under on holes four through eight, recording a birdie on a par-three sixth hole. With the battle for a spot in the Top-6 being so tight, there is little margin for error at this stage. "All we need is for a few more putts to go in," Coach Missy Farr-Kaye mentioned as she gets her team prepared for the second round.
Once again, the Sun Devils will tee-off at the same time as today every ten minutes starting at 5:30 a.m. MST with the fifth member beginning their round at 6:10 a.m. MST. Arizona State will start on the front nine, kicking things off on the first hole paired with seventh-seeded Purdue (7th) and second-seeded Wake Forest (T-8th). Individual tee times are listed in the table below and can be found at this link.
| PAIRING | Arizona State, Purdue, Wake Forest |
| HOLE | 1 |
| TIME (MST) | GOLFER |
| 5:30 A.M. | Raquel Olmos |
| 5:40 A.M. | Alessandra Fanali |
| 5:50 A.M. | Madison Kerley |
| 6:00 A.M. | Alexandra Forsterling |
| 6:10 A.M. | Olivia Mehaffey |
Live results for the regional will be available on Golfstat.com. Tournament Central can be found at http://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=17530. For more information on the Norman Regional, visit the Championship Central page.