MSU Golf- For Skyviewsports.net– EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State women’s golf team is tied for sixth place after shooting a 3-over-par 291 on the first day of the NCAA East Lansing Regional at Forest Akers West on Monday.
Top-seeded USC leads the 12-team field with a 7-under 281, followed by fourth-seeded Pepperdine (283) and second-seeded Northwestern (284). Third-seeded Florida (287) and seventh-seeded Denver (290) round out the top five, with fifth-seeded MSU and eighth-seeded Oklahoma State sitting right behind in sixth place at 291. The top-five teams in the three-day, 54-hole event will advance to the NCAA Championships.
USC’s Bailey Shoemaker sits atop the individual leaderboard by two shots with a 7-under 65. Shoemaker was steady all day, carding seven birdies and 11 pars in her round. Lion Higo of Pepperdine collected six birdies and is in second place with a 5-under-par 67, while Notre Dame’s Lauren Beaudreau is in third at 68.
The first round was played under partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the low-60s in the morning before giving way to sunny skies and temperatures reaching the high-60s in the afternoon.
“We certainly had enough birdies to do what we needed to do, and then we made a lot of mistakes I would say on holes that we should be able to play better than that on our home course,” said MSU head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll. “We’re in a fine place. We’ll have a nice practice (later in the afternoon), get a good team dinner and talk about pins and better strategy for tomorrow and move on.”
Although MSU is playing on its home course, the Spartans started slow early on their second and third holes (No. 11-12) before racking up three birdies on the par-5 13th. MSU closed out its first nine holes at 2-under after a flurry of nine birdies and an eagle on holes 13-18, but finished 5-over on holes 1-9 for a total of 3-over-par (291).
“Where I think that paid off (playing at home) was after we got to the first couple of holes, we didn’t start very well, and Patty (Sanz Barrio), our assistant coach, said ‘they’re going to settle down, they’re going to shake off the nerves, this is their home,’ and certainly she was correct, they did do that,” remarked Slobodnik-Stoll. “So probably I would say, around hole 4 or 5 (holes 13-14), we started making a lot of birdies. Katie (Lu) had the eagle (on 17), Leila (Raines) birdied the last three on her front (16-18), so things got into a good rhythm.”
Lu, a first-team All-Big Ten selection, carded an eagle on the par-5 17th hole and was even through her first nine holes. She hit a long putt on No. 9 to save par and remain even on holes 1-9 to close out at 72. Lu took an unconventional path to her even par with three birdies, one eagle and 10 pars against three bogeys and a double bogey.
Biermann had a birdie on her first hole at No. 10 and added her second of the round on the 17th to sit at 1-under through her first nine. She was steady with eight pars and one bogey on her back nine to finish even.
Senior Leila Raines tied for the team lead with five birdies, including three in a row on holes 16-18, but was 3-over on holes 1-9 and ended the round with a 1-over 73.
Sophomore Paula Balanzategui also had five birdies and finished at 2-over 74 to round out the team scoring for MSU, while senior Valentina Rossi shot an 81 (+9).
“These kids won the NCAA Regional last year and they have a lot of experience,” said Slobodnik-Stoll. “They know what they’re doing and it’s their home course. We just talk about what we can do better and you just pump these kids up. This is such a mental game. They’ve got to know that you believe in them. We know we can do it as a team and hope that they have that attitude all day tomorrow and fight.”
The second round of the three-day, 54-hole event, which is being held at the par-72, 6,370-yard Forest Akers West Course on the MSU campus, will start at 8 a.m. on Tuesday. Live scoring is available at golfstat.com.
