A calm morning gave way to a flat-out windy day as the 2022 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship got underway. Texas A&M’s Zoe Slaughter made the best of early conditions to hold the first round lead for much of the day. She shot 3-under 69, with birdies on all three par 5s to post a bogey-free round.
“We had an early tee time, which was great. Our whole team was ready to go this morning and we were fired up,” said Slaughter. “I knew we needed a good round this morning to start things off. I was in a great mood and had a plan to attack the course however I could. My ball striking was pretty good and my speed when putting was solid.”
Ty Akabane of UCLA and Sabrina Iqbal of TCU fired -1, two off the morning pace. They ended the day tied for third place.
“Sabrina (Iqbal) played beautiful all day. She stayed present and positive and kept it super simple. I am proud of her growth and leadership,” said TCU head coach Angie Ravaioli-Larkin.
Despite increasing wind speeds, Rose Zhang of Stanford gave chase in the afternoon. She made two birdies on the front nine (No. 10 start) before turning to the back only one stroke off the pace set by Slaughter. Zhang took two steps back with bogies on holes 1 and 3, and rebounded with an eagle on the par-5 4th hole.
“We had to wait after No. 3 for a ruling, and I had some time to reset a little bit. I hit a really good drive that allowed me to have 190 to the flag. I hit a five iron into the ridge to seven feet and converted it.”
Consecutive birdies at 7 and 8 pushed her into the individual lead at -4, one stroke ahead of Slaughter who finished the first round in second place.
“I feel like I played the best that I could (given the conditions),” said Zhang. “I had to engage in every single shot and try to convert every putt. I feel like the putts were rolling, the putts were dropping, and that’s what helped me get to the score.”
Stanford’s Sadie Englemann made the turn at 2-over par (No. 10 start), then reeled off three consecutive birdies, 2-4, to move to T3 at -1, three of the pace.
“I’ve probably played this course over 20 times and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the wind quite like this,” said Englemann, who competed in the Thunderbird International Junior, an AJGA tournament held on Raptor.
Teammate and defending champion, Rachel Heck, made birdie on the 18th hole to turn at 2-over par. Her up-and-down day continued on her back nine, finishing the round one down the leaderboard.
Stanford – also the defending championship team – still managed to sit at the top of the leaderboard at +1. Texas A&M filled in behind at +4, and UCLA took third at +7. Auburn, LSU and Florida State finished T4.
