March 31, 2012
With temperatures at the course reaching into the 90s, San Diego State women's golfer Malin Enarsson fired the squad's best round of the tournament, posting a 2-under 69 to move up 40 spots on the individual leaderboard into 33rd place at the PING/ASU Invitational in Tempe, Ariz. As a team, the Aztecs cut four strokes off their opening round total, but still dropped from a tie for 15th into 16th place at 32-over 600 on Saturday at the par-71, 6,121-yard Karsten Golf Course.
Enarsson (Gothenberg, Sweden) was just a day removed from carding a disappointing 7-over 78, but made up for it with her 2-under 69, which included four birdies, 12 pars and two bogeys. The 69 tied as the second-lowest score in the second round in the 90-golfer field and moved her from 73rd all the way into a tie for 33rd at 5-over 147. Enarsson's 69 was also her season low for 18 holes, edging her previous best of 70 at another par-71 event, the Stanford Collegiate in mid-October.
Unfortunately for San Diego State, Enarsson was the only Aztec to climb the standings on day two. Junior Christine Wong (Richmond, B.C.) was 2-under through her first six holes, but then notched four consecutive bogeys and a double bogey before getting one stroke back with a birdie on the par-4 ninth hole to wind up at 5-over 76 and in a tie for 57th.
Freshman Amy Alston (Mission Viejo, Calif.) matched Wong's second-round 76 and finds herself in a tie for 74th with a 154, while junior Alessia Knight (Bologna, Italy) is tied for 67th with a 152, including a 77 on Saturday. Junior Gina Clark (Murrieta, Calif.) ran into trouble on her final four holes, posting three bogeys and a double bogey for an 80 to drop her into 79th place.
Top-ranked UCLA moved into the team lead with its 3-under 281 to own a nine-stroke lead over No. 13 Texas A&M and No. 31 Texas heading into the final 18 holes. Bruin Tiffany Lua, who is ranked ninth nationally, recorded her second sub-par round to surge into the individual lead at 5-under 137.
San Diego State will be paired with Oregon State and five individual golfers for Sunday's final round, beginning from the 10th tee as early as 7:30 a.m. Live results are available on goaztecs.com and golfstat.com
PING/ASU Invitational
Tempe, Ariz. - Karsten Golf Course (Par-71, 6,121 yards)
Results Through 36 Holes
Team Scoring (Top 5 of 17 teams, plus SDSU)
1 No. 1 UCLA 284-281-565 (-3)2 No. 31 Texas 289-285-574 (+6) No. 13 Texas A&M 287-287-574 (+6)4 No. 26 UC Davis 286-292-578 (+10) No. 5 Arizona State 280-298-578 (+10)16 No. 45 San Diego State 302-298-600 (+32)
Top Three Individuals (Top 3 of 90 players)1 Tiffany Lua, UCLA 68-69-137 (-5)2 Demi Runas, UC Davis 70-68-138 (-4)3 Sally Watson, Stanford 68-71-139 (-3)
San Diego State GolfersT33 Malin Enarsson 78-69-147 (+5)T57 Christine Wong 74-76-150 (+8)T67 Alessia Knight 75-77-152 (+10)T74 Amy Alston 78-76-154 (+12)79 Gina Clark 75-80-155 (+13)