April 23, 2012
Gulf Shores, Alabama -
The Tulsa women's golf team is in first place after the opening round of the 2012 Conference USA Women's Golf Championship.
The Hurricane carded a first round score of 299 at the par-72 Peninsula Golf & Racquet Club on Monday to take a two-stroke lead over second-place Tulane. Tulane (301) is followed by UCF (306), Memphis (310) and SMU (313) to round out the top-5 schools.
Tulsa's Marita Engzelius carded a one-under par 71 and is one stroke behind individual leader Caitlin Watts of UAB. Starting play on Hole No. 10 today, the senior Engzelius was two-under par after the first seven holes, birdying the par-5 11th hole and the par-4 16th hole. After bogeys on two of her first four holes after making the turn, Engzelius sank a birdie putt on the par-4 sixth hole to go to one-under where she ended up the day.
Fellow senior Kamryn Ruffin turned in a two-over par 74 for her first round as she pared 16 of the 18 holes and suffered bogeys on the par-4 14th and the par-5 2nd hole. Ruffin is in a three-way tie for fourth place after the opening round,
Junior Kristina Merkle sits in a tie for 12th place after turning in a score of four-over par 76 today. Merkle had five bogeys in her first 17 holes, but turned in her first birdie of the day as she closed out play at the par-4 ninth hole.
Senior Sarah Elliot had a one-under par score after her first nine holes with birdies on three of her last four holes -- No. 15, 16 and 18. However, Elliot ran into some trouble on the backside where she had a double bogey on the par-4 first hole, bogeys on holes No. 5 and 6 and a triple bogey on her final hole, the par-4 ninth hole.
Second round action gets underway Tuesday morning with the final 18 holes being played on Wednesday
Team Results
1. Tulsa 299
2. Tulane 301
3. UCF 306
4. Memphis 310
5. SMU 313
T6. UTEP 319
T6. East Carolina 319
T8. UAB 321
T8. Marshall 321
10. Southern Miss 347
Tulsa Individuals
2. Marita Engzelius71 (-1)
T4. Kamryn Ruffin 74 (+2)
T12. Kristina Merkle 76 (+4)
T17. Sarah Elliot 78 (+6)
T29. Anna Young 80 (+8)
Top-5 Individuals
1. Caitlin Watts, UAB 70 (-2)
2. Marita Engzelius, Tulsa 71 (-1)
3. Maribel Porras-Lopez, Tulane 73 (+1)
T4. Kamryn Ruffin, Tulsa 74 (+2)
T4. Felicia Espericueta, SMU 74 (+2)
T4. Ashley McKenney, Tulane 74 (+2)
In eight years as a member of Conference USA, Tulsa athletic teams have won a league-best 48 conference championships.
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Since the opening of the Donald W. Reynolds Center in 1998, Tulsa’s athletic facilities have undergone a major facelift. New facilities include the Michael D. Case Tennis Center, the Collins Family Softball Complex, the Hurricane Soccer and Track Stadium, the J. Bird Sr. Shell Nest, the Jack Zink Indoor Rowing Center, the Case Athletic Complex and major renovation to H.A. Chapman Stadium.
TU is 75th among national doctoral universities in U. S. News & World Report's 2012 edition of America's Best Colleges. TU's 2011 freshman class had a mean cumulative grade point average of 3.8, and 74 percent graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school classes. Their average ACT was 28.
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