University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate Day 1
Tar Heels In Third After Round One In New Orleans
February 18, 2018 | Women's Golf
NEW ORLEANS - The University of North Carolina women's golf team opened up the 2018 spring season Sunday, positioning themselves in third through the first 18 holes at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate. The Tar Heels shot 4-over par 292 on the day at the English Turn Golf & Country Club.
Freshman Ava Bergner (Ketsch, Germany) and sophomore Brynn Walker (St. David's, Pa.) led Carolina on the day, finishing round one at even-par 72 and tied for 16th. The star freshman seemed to pick up right where she left off in the fall, making five birdies over the first 13 holes and positioning herself in third place through hole 16. However, after battling through an illness all afternoon, Bergner bogeyed 17 and triple bogeyed 18.
"Ava woke up in the middle of the night feeling sick," head coach Jan Mann said. "She said three times that she was going to stay back at the hotel and I encouraged her to at least come see the trainer and get some meds. So, she came and was able to get out there, and she played really well. I think, unfortunately for her, she just totally ran out of steam on the last hole."
Walker made a tournament-best six birdies on the day but was also tripped up by the final two holes, shooting a bogey on 17 and a double bogey on 18.
"The last couple of holes just killed us," Mann said. "A couple of them had some bad lines just off the fairway, and then the wind got them a little bit. But, it is what it is. I just hope that they realize they were playing well, they can go out there and play well tomorrow and not have the hiccups at the end."
Senior Bryana Nguyen (Columbia, Md.) shot 1-over 73 in the first round to finish the tied for 20th, and junior Kelly Whaley (Farmington, Conn.) rounded out the scoring at 3-over par 75 to finish the day tied for 35th.
Mariana Ocano shot 8-over par 80 and is tied for 77th after the first round.
In a highly competitive field, the Tar Heels got off to a hot start making nine birdies over the front nine. And it looked like they may not cool off, as through 16 holes Carolina led the field at 5-under par after making a combined 18 birdies.
However, over the final two holes Carolina dropped nine stokes to finish the day at 4-over. Despite the finish, the Tar Heels lead five teams ranked in the Golfstat Top-25 and only trail No. 14 Florida (-5) and No. 11 Michigan State (-4).
"We saw some really good things out there," Mann said. "They showed that they can absolutely go low, and we we've been working just tremendously on handling any kind of adversity that comes their way."
Kaeli Jones of UCF leads all players at 6-under par.
ROUND 2: The tournament resumes at 10 a.m. ET Monday, and Carolina will begin teeing off from hole 1 at 11:30 a.m. ET. They will play alongside No. 14 Florida and No. 11 Michigan State. Live scoring is available at Golfstat.com, you can follow @uncwomen's golf on twitter and a full recap will be available following the conclusion of the round.
TAR HEEL SCORES
T16 - Ava Bergner 72 (E)
T16 - Brynn Walker 72 (E)
T20 - Bryana Nguyen 73 (+1)
T35 - Kelly Whaley 75 (+3)
T77 - Mariana Ocano 80 (+8)
Team Totals 292, +4 (3rd of 17 teams)
TEAM LEADERBOARD
1. Florida 283 (-5)
2. Michigan State 284 (-4)
3. North Carolina 292 (+4)
4. USC 293 (+5)
T5. NC State 294 (+6)
T5. UCF 294 (+6)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERBOARD
1. Kaeli Jones (UCF) 66 (-6)
2. Allyson Geer (Michigan State) 67 (-5)
T3. Sierra Brooks (Florida) 69 (-3)
T3. Cecily Overbey (NC State) 69 (-3)
Players Mentioned
