The NCAA Women's Regional Golf Championships got underway at three sites across the country on Thursday. Participants will play a total of 54 holes, including 18 holes each day. Regional action concludes Saturday, when eight teams and two individuals will advance from each site to the NCAA National Championships at the Traditions Club in Bryan, Texas, May 17-20.
Live scoring from available online at GolfStat.com.
• West Regional
Unranked BYU shot a 15-over-par 303 and finished the opening round in a three-way tie (Arizona, South Carolina) for seventh place at the par-72, 6,266-yard Washington National Golf Course in Auburn, Wash.
Fellow MW members New Mexico and San Diego State join Tulsa in three-way tie for 14th place with a 22-over-par 310.
BYU, which finished third at the Mountain West Championship in April, is paced by sophomore Kelsey Vines (St. George, Utah), who shot a 2-over-par 74 to finish the round in a 10-way tie for 17th place. Meanwhile, Cougar freshman Annika Afoa (Murray, Utah) is tied with 14 other golfers for 27th place after carding a 3-over-par 75.
Unranked New Mexico is led by freshman Sammi Stevens (Hereford, Texas), who posted a 3-over-par 75 in Round 1 join BYU's Afoa and 12 others for 27th place. San Diego State junior Malin Enarsson (Gothenburg, Sweden) posted the 48th-ranked Aztecs' low round of the day and is in a 13-way tie for 42nd with a 4-over-par 76.
Having received an at-large individual berth to the postseason, Colorado State junior Brianna Espinoza (Phoenix, Ariz.) carded a 10-over 82 on the day to tie for 109th.
USC, the No. 1 team in the country, leads the tournament after shooting an even-par 288.
•East Regional
TCU, which captured the 2011 Mountain West championship, posted a 14-over-par 302 to finish in a tie for 11th at the par-72, 6,271-yard Legends Course at LPGA International in Daytona, Fla. The 33rd-ranked Horned Frogs enter Friday's second round tied with Auburn, Augusta State and Vanderbilt.
TCU's top individual performance on Thursday came from senior Prisela Campbell (Fort Worth, Texas), who shot a 2-over-par 74 to finish the round in a tie for 32nd with six others.
Horned Frog senior Melissa Loh (Singapore) carded a 3-over-par 75 and is currently tied with 17 others for 39th place.
No. 49 Coastal Carolina paces the field after finishing the first day of action with a 2-under 286.
•Central Regional
In its ninth straight postseason appearance, No. 44 UNLV finished Thursday in 22nd place after shooting a 30-over-par 318 at the par-72, 6,208-yard Warren Golf Course in South Bend, Ind.
Senior Therese Koelbaek (Holte, Denmark) turned in UNLV's top individual performance of the day with a 5-over 77. The 2011 Mountain West Player of the Year joins seven others at 43rd on the individual leaderboard.
No. 2 UCLA shot a 3-over 291 for the team lead heading into Friday's second round.
Mick McGrane has covered the Mountain West since the league's inception in 1999. He spent 12 years at the San Diego Union-Tribune, where he served as the beat writer for San Diego State football and men's basketball. He currently represents the MW as a member of the Football Writers Association of America All-America Committee and is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. McGrane serves as senior writer to the Mountain West, providing readers with exclusive, in-depth information about the Conference by highlighting its 10 member institutions and contributing feature stories on student-athletes that participate in the league's 18 sponsored sports.
Mark Knudson is a Colorado State journalism school graduate and a 12-year veteran of professional baseball. During his playing career, Mark pitched for three major league teams, including the Colorado Rockies, where he was the first Colorado native to play for the hometown team. He recorded wins over three of the four legendary pitchers who make up the 4,000 strikeout club: Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens. His win over Ryan came for the Milwaukee Brewers on Opening Day in 1991.
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