Anita Gahir's 76 was the low round of the day for IU at the NCAA East Regional Thursday. |
Hoosiers 14th After Day One of NCAA East Regional
May 8, 2008
ATHENS, Ga. - The Indiana University women's golf team opened postseason play Thursday by carding a 309 in the first round of the NCAA East Regional being contested at the UGA Golf Course in Athens, Ga. The Hoosiers are tied with Charleston Southern for 14th at +21, trailing team leader Duke by 24 strokes (285/-3).
Rounding out the top five after 18 holes are Florida (290/+2), South Carolina (291/+3), Furman (292/+4) and Louisville (293/+5). Louisville freshman Sara-Maude Juneau posted the low round of the day with a 67 (-5). The teams will play another 18 holes on Friday with the final round taking place Saturday. The top eight teams, as well as the top three individuals who are not members of the top eight teams, will advance to the NCAA Championship, May 20-23 in Albuquerque, N.M.
Sophomore Anita Gahir shot the low round of the day for IU with a 4-over 76 and is tied for 38th. After a rough start with a double bogey on 10, Gahir took control over the next eight holes with seven pars and a birdie on 18 to come in at one over (38) before heading into the final nine holes. The front part of the course gave the second-team All-Big Ten honoree some trouble with bogeys on holes one, three, five and seven, but she rebounded with a birdie on six and saved par on the difficult ninth hole.
Seniors Elaine Harris and Lauren Harling shot identical scores of 77 and are tied for 52nd at +5. Harris had one of her strongest outings of late, closing out the first nine holes with a birdie on 18. She nearly had the low round of the day for IU, heading into the final hole at +3 before a double bogey on the par-4 ninth hole tacked on two shots to her total. Prior to that Harris had pared seven of eight holes with just a bogey on four.
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Harling opened the day with back-to-back bogeys on 10 and 11 but bounced back with a beautiful tee shot on the par-3 13 that left her just four feet from the cup to set up her first birdie of the afternoon. She added another birdie on 16 and was just 1-over (38) as she made the turn. Harling made par on four of the first five holes before tripping up with three-straight bogeys on six, seven and eight. She came in with a par on nine to close out the round.
Sophomore Kellye Belcher carded a 79 (+7) for the round and is in a tie for 74th heading into Friday's play. A disastrous start had Belcher +4 after just three holes before she came up big on 13 with another spectacular tee shot that left her with a six-foot putt for birdie. Belcher again struggled after the turn with bogeys on holes one through four, but she was back down to +5 after a birdie on six before the tricky ninth hole left her with a double bogey on the scoresheet.
Rounding out the Indiana contingent, sophomore Laura Nochta is tied for 82nd with a 9-over 81. While Nochta had just one double bogey on five, she was unable to offset seven other bogeys with any birdies with pars on 10 of the 18 holes.
The Hoosiers tee off at 8 a.m. Friday for round two. Results can be tracked live on golfstat.com
NCAA East Regional- Day 1 (18 holes):
T-14. Indiana- 309 (+21)
IU Individuals
T-38. Anita Gahir (76)
T-52. Elaine Harris (77)
T-52. Lauren Harling (77)
T-74. Kellye Belcher (79)
T-82. Laura Nochta (81)
