Golf Tied for 18th at NCAA West Regional

STANFORD, Calif. – Making its first postseason appearance since 2005, the Miami Hurricanes women’s golf team is tied for 18th after Thursday’s first round at the NCAA West Regional at Stanford Golf Course.

Miami, ranked No. 54 in the latest Golfstat standings, held a four-stroke lead through eight holds and remained in the lead when the Canes made the turn to the front nine. However, a collection of bogeys and double bogeys on the front nine dropped the Canes to 23-over 307. Miami is just seven strokes out of the top 10.

Three strokes separate the top four teams on the leaderboard. No. 7 Vanderbilt leads the field by one stroke after a first-round 5-over 289. No. 1 USC is in second at 6-over 290, followed by No. 12 Purdue at 7-over 291 and No. 40 Oregon at 8-over 292. No. 19 Baylor is fifth at 11-over 295.

“We had a great front nine, but a disappointing back nine,” third-year head coach Patti Rizzo said. “We made some silly mistakes on the course, but actually played better than our score reflects. Friday will be a good day!”

Sophomores Leticia Ras-Anderica and Rika Park are tied for 46th at 4-over 75. Ras-Anderica was 1-under through seven holes, but she bogeyed Nos. 17 and 18 to fall to 1-over before later posting two bogeys on the front nine.

Junior Christina Cuculiza led the Canes with a 2-under on the back nine, but opened the front nine with a bogey or double bogey on each of the first six holes. She is tied for 77th at 7-over 78. Freshman Christina Ocampo was 1-under after the back nine. Ocampo double-bogeyed No. 1 and later bogeyed Nos. 3 and 5. She finished the day tied for 89th at 8-over 79.

Freshman Lauren Riehle is tied for 123rd at 15-over 86.

The second round of the 2013 NCAA West Regional continues Friday morning at Stanford. Live scoring will be available at www.golfstat.com.