The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA Championship
Vandermade leads Women's Golf in second round of NCAA Championship
05.20.2009 | Women's Golf
May 20, 2009
NCAA Championship Day Two Results
OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Freshman Nicole Vandermade (80-76=156, +12) shaved four strokes off of her opening-round score at the NCAA Championship to finish day two as Texas' lowest individual scorer with a 4-over-par 76. As a team, the Longhorns (314-311=625, +49) are in a two-way tie for 20th place with first- and second-round playing partner New Mexico (311-314=625).
In her NCAA Championship debut on Tuesday, Vandermade carded an 8-over 80, but she bounced back Wednesday afternoon with four fewer strokes on her scorecard. Beginning her round on the ninth hole of the Caves Valley Golf Course, Vandermade carded back-to-back bogeys on the 11th and 12th hole before making the turn at even par with birdies on the 14th and 17th holes. Her most consistent streak of the day was three-straight pars on holes 18, one and two, but she climbed to 4-over after incurring four bogeys on her last seven holes. Vandermade is currently tied for 79th place.
Junior Shannon Fish (74-79=153, +9) continues to lead the Longhorns at 9-over 153 and is tied for 48th place. Senior Kelley Louth (81-77=158, +14) is two strokes behind Vandermade and tied for 88th, while seniors Kristin Walla (82-79=161, +17) and Caney Hines (79-86=165, +21) are tied for 101st and 114th, respectively.
Weather conditions continued to favor the NCAA Championship field on Wednesday, with sunny skies and minimal wind resulting in five sub-par scores. The scoring average dropped slightly on day two, from 77.92 to 77.11.
UCLA (296-293=589, +13) climbed to a seven-stroke lead after turning in a second-round 5-over 293 for a 36-hole total of 13-over 589. Southern California (301-295=596, +20) and Denver (294-304=598, +22) round out the top-three teams.
The Bruins' Maria Jose Uribe (75-66=141, -3) fired a 6-under 66 to move into the top position on the individual leaderboard. Wake Forest's Nannette Hill (72-71=143, -1), Pepperdine's Lisa McCloskey (74-69=143, -1) and Denver's Stephanie Sherlock (70-73=143, -1) are tied for second place.
Texas will join Georgia and New Mexico on the first tee at 7:30 a.m. (ET) Thursday morning to begin the third round of the NCAA Championship. Live webstreaming of the final three holes will be available on NCAA.com from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
POST-ROUND QUOTES
Head Coach Martha Richards
On Texas' second-round performance: I thought we did some things a lot better today, and as a result, our total score was slightly better. I felt like I saw some better putting today, we read the greens better and we chipped and putted better. If we can just combine all of that with better ball striking tomorrow, we'll put together some better rounds. This is just a great, championship-style course, and there is very little room for error.
On the importance of endurance in the NCAA Championship: We've had two days of practice rounds, and we're on our second of four rounds here. At this point, if fatigue has set in, then you have to use mind over matter to battle through it. The strength and conditioning work that we've put in over the year, along with the right amount of rest scheduled in, will be enough to push us through.
On the play of freshman Nicole Vandermade: Nicole didn't hit the ball quite as well today, but she definitely chipped and putted better. She's a prime example of us needing to combine the past two days and we'd be off to the races, so to speak. What I liked about Nicole today was that it appeared that she was competing hard. She was very present and focused, and had her game face on. It's not unusual for freshmen at the NCAA Championship to think they're ready, but not be totally ready. She did a great job of bouncing back today.
