Catherine Park leads the Pac-12 after an 8-under 64. (Pac-12 Photo)
After a tough day of scoring in the first round, the women golfers of the Pac-12 went low during round two. Stanford still holds the lead after shooting 274 (14-under). USC had the best day, shooting 268 (20-under). They are six shots behind the Cardinal.
Megha Ganne led the Cardinal in scoring with a 5-under 67 after making seven birdies and two bogeys. Sadie Englemann bounced back from a poor first round with a 3-under 69. Paula Martin Sampadro and Kelly Xu also shot 3-under 69, further proof of the team's depth. Rachel Heck shot a 2-under 70.
USC’s Catherine Park, who leads the individual tournament, shot a tournament-best 64, and Amari Avery backed up her teammate with a 7-under 65. Brianna Navarrosa shot a 5-under 67, while Cindy Kou and Bailey Shoemaker both shot even par 72 for the Spartans’ fourth-highest score.
Oregon is sitting in third place, ten shots behind Stanford at 6-under par. Three Ducks shot 3-under 69: Ching-Tzu Chen, Minori Nagano, and Ting-Hsuan Huang.
On the individual side of things, Park is 10-under par after her impressive 8-under 64. She is four shots clear of Stanford’s Ganne. Five players are in third place at 3-under par: Sampadro, Xu, Heck, Madelyn Gamble (WSU), and Charlotte Back (Arizona).
The final round will be played on Tuesday. The Pac-12 does not have a match-play portion.
DAY 1 RECAP
The country's number 1 ranked team, the Stanford Cardinal, is the only team under par following the first round of the Pacific-12 Conference Championship. They fired a 2-under 286, seven shots clear of Oregon at Palouse Ridge GC in Pullman, Washington, during a challenging day beset by wind and rain.
Senior Rachel Heck and sophomore Megha Ganne led the way for the Cardinal, both shooting 71. The well-rounded squad had Paula Martin Sampedro and Kelly Xu both shoot even-par 72. Stanford has been a dominant force in the women's college golf scene, but they have not won the Pac-12 championship since 2017. Anne Walker's team won three events this year; most recently, they won the Julie Inkster Invitational in March.
Oregon shot seven-over par as a team, Karen Tsuru shot 1-under 71, and Kiara Romero shot an even-par 72. Minori Nagano and Ching-Tzu Chen were the other counting scores for the Ducks. Both of them shot 3-over 75.
Washington State is third, and defending champion USC is fourth. After 18 holes, WSU and USC each boast one of the individual leaders.
Junior Madelyn Gamble made five birdies en route to her 2-under 70, and sophomore Catherine Park had a tidy round, making three birdies and one bogey.
Park is currently ranked No. 26 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com Women's Rankings and is coming off a co-medalist finish at the Silverado Showdown.
It’s quite the packed leaderboard, as three players sit one shot back (Ganne, Heck, and Tsuru), and a cadre of five players shot even in round one - Romero, Sampedro, Kyra Ly, Xu, (Oregon State), and Grace Summerhays (Arizona State).
ABOUT THE Pac-12 Women's Championship
54-hole stroke-play to decide the champion of the
Pacific Athletic Conference. Team (best four scores
out
of five players each round) and individual
competitions.
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