Golf Moves into First Place at Hurricane Invitational
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – A two-stroke improvement from the opening day was enough for the University of Miami golf team to take sole possession of first place in the Hurricane Invitational after round two play concluded at the Biltmore Golf Course Tuesday afternoon.
The No. 24 Hurricanes combined for a 286 round, shooting two-under par on the day, and made up for a three-shot opening-day deficit to pull ahead of No. 16 Oklahoma. Going into the final day of the tournament, Miami will carry a three-stroke lead over the Sooners, who accumulated for a 292 round to drop to one-over as a team. Coastal Carolina remained third after an even round of 288 and enters Wednesday’s final round six shots behind the Canes.
“It’s just what I wanted, to creep up a little bit,” Miami head coach Patti Rizzo said. “I told them they are going to soar tomorrow. We are going to go out tomorrow and have a great day and wrap this thing up. Then [we will] have a nice spring break and nice couple of weeks off and come back ready for the second half of the season.”
Sophomore Renate Grimstad was once again the driving force in Miami’s lineup. The Bergen, Norway, native found herself in the lead early in the day and never looked back, shooting one-under on the 72-par, 6,150-yard course. Through two rounds of tournament play, the 72nd-ranked Grimstad has a score of 139, one better than Virginia Tech’s Elizabeth Bose (140), who had a day-best-tying score of three-under. Oklahoma’s Rylee Pedigo, who shot an even round, rounds off the top three with a score of 141.
Junior Dewi Weber was back to her usual self Tuesday, shooting a day-best three-under (69), bettering her first round by four strokes. No. 20 Weber moved up eight places in the standings and sits in fifth place with a total of 141, two strokes behind second place.
Like Grimstad, freshman Kristyna Frydlova shot a 71 on the day to advance 17 positions – third most among top-20 players – to tie with six other competitors for the 11th-best score of 146.
Sophomore Macarena Aguilera was Miami’s fourth golfer in the top 20 through two days of play, tying for 17th place with a total score of 147. Aguilera used a hot start to climb all the way to second place – right behind Grimstad – through 27 holes, shooting a then-day-best four-under. Ultimately, Aguilera was three-over on the day with a score of 75.
Freshman Serena Hou also bested her opening-day result by one stroke, shooting a 78. Hou goes into the final day of the competition with a total of 157 over 36 holes.
Fellow rookie Roos Haarman, who competes as an individual in the tournament, picked up a score of 83 in day two for a total score of 163.
“The girls are playing really well,” Rizzo said. “Still [there are] little mistakes – the greens are playing super fast. Those little mistakes are easy. It can just get away from you every now and then, but I think they are all feeling pretty confident for tomorrow and, hopefully, the weather can hold up and we can have another great day.”
Competition at the Biltmore concludes Wednesday with tee times scheduled for as early as 7:30 a.m.
