Pepperdine women’s golf showed a strong presence at Monday’s opening round of the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes with four players finishing in the top 10.
The sparrows weren’t the only birdies in play as senior Taylore Karle tapped in her third birdie on hole number nine of the tough par-71 course at Palos Verdes Golf club for the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge Feb. 14.?
Karle ended the day with a two-over-par 73 leading the Pepperdine women’s golf team to their second place standing after the first day of play.?Four members of the team are in the top 10 Karle leading the pack tied for fifth with junior Kaitlin Drolson and freshmen Liv Cheng and Grace Na just one stroke behind at 74 sharing ninth place.?Freshman Danielle Gillaspy played as an individual and is tied for 20th place while sophomore Danielle Kang is sitting tied at 29th.?
Consistent opening round scores showed some promise for the remaining two days of play. A tournament victory would give Pepperdine a fourth win in the competition’s 16-year history.?
As a team Pepperdine holds a second-place score of 11-over 295 with USC five strokes ahead at 290 and UCLA only one stroke behind with 296. With six of the nation’s top 25 teams in the running the currently unranked Waves proved to be strong contenders in the tournament. USC the tournament’s defending champion is ranked No. 2 while UCLA is right behind in the No. 3 position nationally.?
Cheng led the birdie hunt of the Waves with a total of four on the course quite a feat considering only three of the 72 players competing reported scores of par or better. Karle Gillaspy and Drolson followed with three each while Na and Kang posted two birdies apiece.
Being the Waves’ first tournament of the spring season the high standing finish of day one incites a promising season-opening.?The Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge will continue Tuesday and Wednesday Feb. 15 and 16 for a total of three rounds for the tournament win.