HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. – The University of Redlands Women's Golf team currently sits in fifth place following their first round 320 on the Par 73 Championship Course at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championships.
The championships have followed the rankings closely with the Top-5 teams all ranking inside the Top-5 with reigning National Champions No. 2 Emory University leading the field, No. 4 George Fox University (GFU) in 2nd, No. 3 Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) and No. 5 Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) tied for 3rd, and the No. 1 Bulldogs in fifth.
Despite the fifth place standing, Redlands is only five strokes out of first place, two behind second place, and one behind the co-third place teams, margins that can be made up in a single round, let alone the three still to be played.
It is notable that the 320 the Bulldogs shot is not anything that comes close to setting records, but every team is at least 23 strokes over par, so the course has not been easy to navigate thus far.
An area to watch moving forward are the Par 4's and 5's where the Bulldogs have the second lowest average score on the Par 4's at 4.58 but eighth at 5.40 on Par 5's. Par 3's saw the Bulldogs in sixth at 3.30.
On the individual side No. 5 Hannah Jugar (Chula Vista, Calif.) sits in a three-way tie for second place after she shot a two over 75. She is tied with the No. 1 player in the country from WashU and the No. 21 player from Williams College. They all trail the No. 75 player from Centre College.
Jugar is tied for first on Par 3's (-1) and was fourth on Par 4's (+1), but she has plenty of room for improvement on Par 5's where she was (+2), four strokes off the tournament leader.
Iris Liu (Diamond Bar, Calif.) and Andrea York (Oakdale, Calif.) each shot eight-over 81s as they are tied for 32nd. Liu was very even across the board as she was two over on Par 3's and three over on Par 4's and 5's. York on the other hand was tied for first at one under on Par 3's and two over on Par 5's, but a seven-over mark on Par 4's is where she can make a move up the standings.
The next Bulldog is Kendall Nicholson (Bellevue, Wash.) who is ten over and tied for 47th, but sits only six strokes out of the Top-10. She is four strokes off the best golfer on Par 3's at three over. On Par 4's she is five over, six strokes back, and on Par 5's she sits four strokes back at two over.
Jizelle Robledo (La Habra, Calif.) was the last Bulldog to score and is tied for 85th after posting an 85. She is three over on Par 3's and only one over on Par 5's, but a 10 over on Par 4's puts her 11 strokes behind the leader.
The Bulldogs will tee off in the early afternoon as they play Round 2 looking to advance to the final two days of the championships. Robledo will tee off on Hole 10 at 9:20 a.m. PST with York to follow at 9:30 PST, Liu at 9:40 PST, Nicholson at 9:50 PST, and Jugar at 10:00 PST.