Huskies Off To A Good Start At NCAA Regionals

Thursday, May 10

Penn State Golf Club -- State, College, Pa.

All Day

University of Washington

NCAA East Regional

May 10, 2012 | Women's Golf

By: Washington Athletics

May 10, 2012

• East Region Central

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The Washington women's golf team shook off the effects of an early morning wakeup call and managed to combine to shoot 296 on Thursday in first round action of the NCAA East Region at Penn State Golf Course. Their score of +8 at the 6,253-yard, par-72 golf course in State College, Pa. left the No. 10 seeded Huskies tied for fourth out of 24 teams with 36 holes of action remaining.

After play wraps up on Saturday, the top eight teams from three regions will advance to the NCAA championship in Nashville, Tenn.

Washington was among the first teams to tee off on Thursday. The Huskies, who arrived in Pennsylvania on Monday to adjust to the time change, teed off from the 10th tee starting at 4:30 a.m. PT.

With temperatures in the low 50's and winds gusting, the Huskies got off to a little bit of a slow start. But, the Huskies managed to kick things into gear and made the turn at even-par, thanks largely to Jennifer Yang's 3-under through the first nine holes. On the back, the going got a little tougher for the Huskies, but sophomore Kelli Bowers kept the Huskies' ship sailing shooting 1-under on the final nine.

The key for Washington on Thursday was its play on the four par-5 holes. The Husky quintet combined to shoot -4 on the longest holes and was bogey-free on the par 5's.

T4	Washington	296	296
T4	Kelli Bowers (4)	71	71
T6	Jennifer Yang (3)	72	72
T39	SooBin Kim (1)	75	75
T72	Sadena Parks (2)	78	78
T72	Cyd Okino (5)	78	78

"That's what we have been trying to accomplish, trying to make those par-5's valuable to us," UW Coach Mary Lou Mulflur from Pennsylvania. "If we can play those under par over the next couple of days, I think we will be alright."

Bowers led the Huskies charge on Thursday, firing a 1-under 71. She sits tied for 4th. She had five birdies during the round, including three on the last nine that accounted for the only birdies by the Huskies on holes No.'s 1-9. The round served as a nice bounce back for Bowers who finished 53rd out of 55 competitors at the Pac-12 Championships.

"It was really good to see," Mulflur said about the play of Bowers, one of two non-freshmen in the Huskies' lineup. "She finished birdie-birdie-par and just played steady all day and never made any mistakes. She is really learning to manage her game."

Yang had four birdies, all coming on the back nine of the course, and ended up even for the round. She is among a glut of players tied for sixth.

SooBin Kim, who last week was named Second Team All-Pac-12, shot 75 and is tied for 39th.

Senior Sadena Parks and freshman Cyd Okino each were 6-over on the round. They are among a group of golfers tied for 72nd.

South Carolina, who entered the regional as the No. 8 seed, leads after the first round. The Gamecocks shot even-par 288. Top-seeded Alabama sits in second at +4, followed by No. 5 seed Florida at +6.

The Huskies are joined at +8 by No. 4 Texas A&M and No. 11 seed Texas.

Katerina Ruzickova of Texas A&M leads the field after firing a 67. She is on shot better than Maryland's Juliet Vongphoumy and three strokes better than South Carolina's Justine Dreher.

The Huskies are scheduled to tee off on Friday morning at 8:50 a.m. PT (11:50 a.m. ET) paired with Texas and Tulane.

Team Leader Board

Course:Penn State Golf Courses : Blue Course Par 72 - 6253 yards

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