First Round Results
Download Free Acrobat Reader
May 11, 2006
The 23rd-ranked New Mexico women’s golf team is tied for 13th place after the first round of the NCAA West Regional being played at the Washington National Golf Club (par 72, 6,289 yards) in suburban Seattle. UNM, BYU and Long Beach State finished at 19-over 307, which is 19 shots behind second-ranked UCLA and host Washington. Live stats and results are available daily at www.golfstat.com.
The top eight finishers in the 21-team field advance to the NCAA Championships May 23-26 at Ohio State. Arizona, New Mexico State and Stanford are tied for eighth at 303, four shots ahead of the Lobos.
The 54-hole tournament continues Friday. New Mexico, who is paired with Washington and Stanford, tees off between 1:50-2:30 p.m. MDT.
Seeded eighth in the regional, the Lobos got off to a solid start by playing the front nine in 5-over par. The back nine was different and extremely frustrating as UNM played it in 14-over with all but one of those lost strokes coming on the final four holes.
Sophomore Alexandra Phelps, an Albuquerque Eldorado grad, had the low score for UNM at 2-over 74 and is tied for 22nd. Consecutive birdies at 12 and 13 pushed Phelps to 2-under, but she suffered a triple-bogey 7 at 15 and made bogey at the par-5 17th.
UNM’s top player, freshman Mikaela Backstedt, posted her highest score in an opening round this season with a 4-over 76. She birdied 17, but gave it back on 18 with a bogey. Backstedt was averaging 72.22 strokes in the first round of nine tournaments heading into the regional.
Freshman Morgan Grantham shot 6-over 78 followed by fellow freshman Py Bengtsson at 7-over 79. The start and finish was tough for Bengtsson as she was 3-over after three holes, then closed bogey, double bogey, bogey.
Sophomore Giselle Claux played the front nine in even-par before struggling to a 45 on the back for a 9-over 81.