The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA Championship
Women's Golf completes first day of NCAA Championship tied for 19th place
05.19.2009 | Women's Golf
May 19, 2009
NCAA Championship Day One Results
OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- The University of Texas Women's Golf team opened the 2009 NCAA Championship with a 26-over-par 314 to finish the day tied for 20th place. Junior Shannon Fish led the Longhorns with a 2-over 74 on the par-72, 6,443-yard Caves Valley Golf Club to finish just outside the top-10 on the individual leaderboard and in a tie for 12th place.
Fish began her day by sinking a 40-foot birdie putt on the first hole, but climbed to 2-over after incurring bogeys on the second, fourth and ninth holes. Her second birdie opportunity came on the 10th hole and Fish then played seven-straight par holes before missing a 25-foot par putt on 18 for her fourth bogey. Fish's first-round stats included hitting 12 of 14 fairways and recording just 24 putts.
Senior Caney Hines birdied three of her last four holes to finish the day at 7-over 79 and tied for 79th place. Freshman Nicole Vandermade is tied for 91st place after carding an 8-over 80 in her NCAA Championship debut, and senior Kelley Louth is tied for 101st at 9-over 81. Senior Kristin Walla rounded out the squad with a 10-over 82 and is tied for 107th.
Weather conditions favored the NCAA Championship field on Tuesday, despite tee times being delayed 30 minutes due to morning frost. Wind was minimal and temperatures reached a high of 78 degrees under sunny skies. However, thick rough and large, undulated greens proved a challenge for all 126 golfers, as the average scorecard was 77.92, nearly 6-over.
Denver followed up its victory at the NCAA East Regional Championship with a first-round 6-over 294 to take a two-stroke lead over Central Regional champ UCLA (296, +8) in the team standings. North Carolina currently holds the third spot in the 24-team field at 11-over 299.
The Tar Heels' Catherine O'Donnell and the Pioneers' Stephanie Sherlock share the individual lead at 2-under 70 and four players are knotted in third place at even par.
The second round will commence Wednesday morning at 8 a.m., an adjustment from the previously scheduled 7:30 start time due to early-morning frost. Texas will again be paired with Duke and New Mexico, and will begin round two on the 10th tee at 1:20 p.m. ET.
POST-ROUND QUOTES
Head Coach Martha Richards
On the Caves Valley Golf Course: This is a world-class, championship-style golf course. This course is set up almost like a U.S. Women's Open golf course would be this week, and that's great. There's a really great group of talented, young women playing this week, and this is just a great test of golf. This is a golf course where the margin of error is very small, and you can hit a pretty good shot and still make bogey.
On Texas' performance: I'm not disappointed in what we shot today. I think we're absolutely capable of better, but, given how difficult this golf course is, I'm pleased with a lot of the golf that I saw today.
On the play of junior Shannon Fish: Shannon played smart golf today. When she hit it in the rough and knew that she couldn't get it to the green, she hit it to where she was comfortable. Shannon is really good with her wedges, so if she hits some 9-irons out of the rough and plays the par-4s like short par-5s, she can hit her wedge from 50 yards out to four feet and make her par putts. She was very composed and seemed very comfortable on this course. She was phenomenal today.
