Oct. 24, 2008
WILMINGTON, N.C. - Sophomore Natalie Sheary played a steady round of golf and leads by a shot after the first round of the Landfall Tradition hosted by UNC-Wilmington at the Landfall Country Club. Sheary's round of even-par 72 paced the Demon Deacons to an opening round 297 on a windy day in Wilmington. "The conditions were really rough today." said Dailey. "It was almost a 2-club wins at times today and it really made some holes play long. We played a solid round of golf for the conditions and I am really happy with where we're at right now." The Deacons started a bit slow but still managed to shoot 4-over on the front nine and made the turn in a tie for 3rd. A solid back nine enabled the Deacs to open up a lead as the rest of the field struggled. Wake has a six-shot lead heading into the second round. Sheary started her round with a birdie at No. 2, a bogie at No. 3 and another birdie on No. 7 to post an opening nine of 1-under 35. She went on to make eight pars and just one bogie on the back to finish at even par. Senior Nannette Hill had a bit more of an up-and-down first round, making a total of seven bogies but also carding four birdies for an opening 75. After two bogies and two birdies gave Hill a front nine of even par 36, she would bogie four straight holes to fall to 4-over. But she rebounded with birdies on two of her next three holes and closed with a pair of pars to post 3-over. Cheyenne Woods got off to a rough start, as she found herself 3-over through her first three holes. But the freshman played strong the rest of the day, making three birdies to offset three bogies and would post a first round 75. Junior Dolores White also got off to a tough start making five bogies and just one birdie in her opening nine of 40. But eight straight pars and a birdie on the par-4 18th gave her a solid first round 75, her lowest score of the season.
Senior Jean Chua had a bit of a rough opening round, postings scores of 41-38=79 (+7). Not all was lost as she managed a pair of birdies on the back nine to give her confidence for the rest of the weekend. Wake has four players in the top-eight and Chua is still in the top-20 at tied for 19th in the 60-player field despite the 79. Ohio State is six shots back while ACC-rival North Carolina is two shots behind them at 17-over. Florida is two shots further back at 19-over and then there is a real drop off as Northwestern is at 27-over and East Carolina is at 30-over. With more bad weather forecasted for Saturday, coach Dailey knew it was imperative to play well today. "It's kind of nice to have a little bit of a cushion going into tomorrow but we're still going to have to come out and play a god round," said Dailey. "We have stay mentally tough and take what the course gives us and hopefully it won't play too tough tomorrow." The first tee time tomorrow for the Deacons is 11:30 and live scoring of all the action from the final two rounds can be found at www.golfstat.com. Also, check out Jean Chua's blog from the tournament as she will give readers an inside look at the Lady Deacs on and off the course. |
