March 8, 2009
SORRENTO, Fla. - The 15th-ranked Purdue women's golf team will begin the second round of play at the UCF Challenge in 12th place after firing a 294 (+6) in its opening round on Sunday. The Boilermakers are 12 strokes off the lead, trailing first place UCLA (282, -6).
Purdue, which began the opening round teeing off from the 10th hole, played quality golf early with four golfers carding even-par or better scores through the back-nine, but were plagued by bogeys after making the turn.
Senior Maria Hernandez and sophomore Maude-Aimee LeBlanc had the best opening rounds for Purdue with both golfers turning in even-par 72s, placing them in a tie for 23rd as individuals. Hernandez climbed to as low as two-under par with eight holes to play, but couldn't overcome bogeys on three of her final eight holes, while LeBlanc shot par on every hole to finish six-strokes behind individual leader Jessica Yadloczky (66, -6), from Florida.
Red-shirt sophomore Thea Hoffmeister sits in a tie for 40th place after carding an opening round 74 (+2). The Berlin, Germany, native was at one-under par at the turn, but double-bogeyed the third hole and bogeyed No. 8 to finish at two-over par, eight-strokes off the lead.
Sophomore Junthima Gulyanamitta sits just two strokes behind Hoffmeister in a tie for 61st with an opening round 76 (+4).
Freshman Vaishavi Sinha ranks 82nd after posting a seven-over-par 79.
UCLA, which is ranked No. 1 in the latest Golfworld/NGCA Coaches' Poll, leads the 18-team field that features 13 teams ranked in the Top-25, including No. 2 Arizona State, No. 3 USC and No. 4 Oklahoma State. The Bruins carded a 282 (-6) on Sunday and have a two-stroke lead over second place Arizona State.
The 54-hole tournament is being played at the 6,301-yard, par-72 Red Tail Golf Club in Sorrento, Fla. The second round will get underway at 9 a.m. ET Monday and the final round will be played on Tuesday, March 10.
Live scoring for the second and third rounds can be found on golfstat.com. A full recap and results of each round will be posted at PurdueSports.com.