ATHENS, Ga. - The Purdue women's golf team took care of business against one the season's top fields Friday, tying for seventh place with a score of nine-over, 297, and advancing to the championship "Red" bracket of the 44th-Annual Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic at UGA Golf Course. Freshman Covadonga SanJuan continued her solid play for the Old Gold and Black with a team-low score of one-over, 73, to tie for 14th in the individual standings.
Paired with third-ranked UCLA for the day-one stroke play, the Boilermakers opened up the shotgun start at the end of the front-nine, spread between holes 7-9. SanJuan was the early leader as she was one-under through eight holes, sinking her birdie on the par 4, 10th hole. She went up and down over the next seven holes, trading birdies and bogey, but finished strong with pars on her final three to post the top team score.
Junior August Kim and sophomore Marta Martin turned in the next two team scores at two-over, 74, putting together solid stretches of play. Kim struggled early with four bogies over her first six holes, but finished very strong with nine pars and three birdies over her final 12 to tie for 22nd, individually, and keep the team in the top-eight. Martin went back-and-forth all morning, trading birdies and bogeys, making only six pars over the round, but sank a team-best five birdies on the day.
Senior Anna Appert Lund and Linn Andersson halved the final team score at four-over, 76, tying for 38th place. Andersson was just one-over through the back-nine, with the only setback coming on No. 17, but additional bogeys on No. 1, No. 7 and No. 9 pushed her score up. Appert Lund had three birdies on the day, making the best of a pair of par 5s and the par 3, No. 3, having most of her success on the front-nine.
UCLA had the top team score at two-under, 286, led by top individual finisher Louise Ridderstrom at four-under, 68. Joining Purdue and the third-ranked Bruins in the "Red" bracket is No. 2 USC, No. 4 Northwestern, No. 5 Alabama, No. 6 Georgia, No. 14 Kent State and unranked Denver. Top-ranked Duke, No. 7 Arkansas, Auburn and Oregon State had the four low team scores and will play a round-robin format in the "Black" bracket.
The Boilermakers open stroke play tomorrow against the sixth-ranked host Bulldogs, teeing off at 8:40 a.m. ET on the front-nine. Appert Lund's score served as the tie breaker with Kent State for the No. 7 seed. Purdue will face either Alabama or Denver in the second round at 1:40 p.m. ET, depending on who wins both first-round matchups.