University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Highlands Ranch Golf Course
Players Mentioned
Gophers, Wu Finish Second Round In Top 10
10/6/2018 6:21:00 PM | Women's Golf
The Gophers teed off bright and early in Highlands Ranch, Colo. Saturday morning at the Ron Moore Intercollegiate, but they still powered through the second round with top-10 standings in the team and player fields.
Minnesota added five strokes in the middle round to finish with a 16-over 304. The team currently sits in a tie for ninth place with Nevada at a 27-over 603. Meanwhile, senior Muyu Wu surged 18 spots on the player leaderboard to finish in a tie for 9th.
Wu had a calm and consistent day in Highlands Ranch that started with a birdie followed by two bogeys on the front nine. She shot a birdie to start the back and settled in from there to finish with an even 72. It's Wu's best round of the season so far and matches the third-best mark in her Gophers career.
Sophomore Grace Kellar, who led the Gophers after round one, faced adversity early on Saturday with three bogeys on the front nine. She bounced back with two birdies on Nos. 10 and 12, but tacked on three strokes to finish the day with a 75, three-over par. Her total score of 149 puts her at five-over par through two rounds and in a tie for 24th place.
Sophomore Joanne Free had pairs of bogeys and doubles in her first nine holes, but shot over par just once on the back. She finished with a seven-over 79 for the round and is 11-over for the competition with a 155, which is good for a share of 61st place.
Freshman Karen Zhang, one of Minnesota's Friday leaders, birdied her first hole of the day but found herself six-over par through nine holes. She added six more strokes by the end of the round to finish with a 12-over 84. She has shot a 14-over 158 on the tournament and sits in a tie for 74th.
Sophomore Kate Lillie was the only Gopher, along with Wu, to shave strokes from Friday to Saturday. She carded three bogeys and a double, but closed out her front nine with a birdie. From there, Lillie shot to par on each hole but Nos. 17 and 18 and closed out the second round with a six-over 78. She has moved up seven places on the leaderboard with a 15-over 159 and is tied for 76th.
Colorado State still holds on to the team lead after two rounds with a three-under 573, with Ellen Secor of CSU and Samantha Hutchison of UC Davis leading the player field with a score of 142, two-under par.
Minnesota will complete its final round in Colorado on Sunday. Live stats can be found at BirdieFire at the link above.