They managed to beat the sun, but that didn’t make the competition any less fierce for Long Beach State, as the women’s golf team couldn’t take advantage of the cooler temperatures at the Karsten Golf Course on Friday morning. The No. 15 seed 49ers shot a 22-over par 310 to finish the second round of the NCAA West Regional in 17th place. The 49ers carded a 299 in Thursday’s opening round to finish with six other teams tied for 13th.
Regional host Arizona State continues to lead the field of 21 teams by a comfortable 16 strokes over second place Southern California and 17 shots over third place UC Irvine.
LBSU was one of the first teams to start the tournament as they began the morning on the back nine. Senior All-American Kay Hoey moved up in the standings to finish in the top 20 as she carded an even 72 for the day as she’s currently tied for 19th with six other players. Hoey recorded two birdies and three bogey’s on the back nine but came back later in the morning with a bogey free front nine with one birdie at the par four No. 2 hole.
Freshman Lee Lopez recorded a 75 as she fell from 32nd to to tie for 41st as she only had one birdie for the day that came at the par four No. 4 hole. Lopez carded four bogey’s in the second round.
Sophomore Reina Rogers shot an 82 to tie for 91st, while junior Brenda Chhuor carded an 84 to tie for 97th.
Sophomore Lindsey McAtee improved by three shots as she finished the round with an 81 to place 102nd.
Carlota Ciganda of Arizona State sits on top of the leader board with a one-stroke lead over second place Jane Chin of UC Irvine and Belen Mozo of Southern California.
“We’re all just a little disappointed in how we played today,” said 49er head coach Sue Ewart. “Kay and Lee were the most solid amongst the five players but we really needed the other three to step up and play to their ability. Unfortunately this course will show your weaknesses and we put ourselves in some bad places to recover from. Though we shot ourselves in the foot this morning, I have no doubt that we can come back and play well tomorrow and show everyone what we’re capable of.”
The 49ers will begin the final round at 11:30am at the No. 10 hole. Live action of the NCAA West Regional can be followed at www.golfstat.com.
From LBSU reports