April 16, 2012
HALF MOON BAY, Calif. - The Washington women's golf team is tied for fourth after 36 holes of play wrapped up on Monday in the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate at the Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay Golf Links. The Huskies shot an even par 288 at the 6,028-yard, par-72 course in the morning and followed that with a 9-over 297 in the afternoon. The Huskies are 22 shots behind top-ranked UCLA, who leads third-ranked USC by a whopping 14 strokes. San Jose State is third at +8. The UW quintet was third after the morning's first round shotgun start, thanks to even-par rounds of 72 from Sadena Parks, SooBin Kim, Kelli Bowers and Cyd Okino. Jennifer Yang shot 3-over 75. "It was nice to see things come together for us," remarked UW Coach Mary Lou Mulflur regarding the first round. "We had some steady play and I don't remember the last time that we had all 72's count towards our score. But, it was nice to have that kind of consistency when you can throw out a 75." Bowers notched perhaps the most unlikely even-par round of the morning. She was +4 through six holes before answering back with four birdies over the next seven holes. Bowers would bogey No. 10 before finishing off her round with a birdie on No. 13.
Okino, a freshman from Honolulu, Hawai'i was the afternoon hero, carding a 1-over 73. She carded a couple of birdies down the homestretch to help her cause in the second round. "I told her when we were done that I was really proud of her and the way she responded," Mulflur said of Okino, who had struggled in her previous tournaments causing a shakeup in the lineup last time out in the Lady Sun Devil Invitational. "Nobody likes to be benched and she really handled it well. I was really happy for her." Kim had the second-best afternoon round carding a 74. She and Okino were the only Huskies to notch two afternoon birdies. Yang shot another 75, with Bowers joining her at +3 in the later round. Parks was +4 in the afternoon. The difference in the afternoon from the morning was that the winds picked up. The Huskies battled the elements and dropped a spot in the standings, but will enter Tuesday's final round with advancement up the leaderboard still well within reach. "Everybody had to deal with the same conditions and I don't think fatigue was an issue at all," Mulflur said about her teams' second round. "We just missed a few putts on the way in that we didn't convert." Erynne Lee, a UCLA freshman from Silverdale, Wash., leads the tournament after carding back-to-back 68's. She has a five-shot lead over teammate Tiffany Lua. Okino is tied for 9th at +1, Kim for 13th at +2, Bowers for 16th at +3 and Parks for 25th at +4 to give the Huskies a quartet of golfers in the top-25. Tuesday's final round is a shotgun start that will begin at 8:00 a.m. The tournament is the final tune-up for the Huskies before the Pac-12 Championships, April 27-29 at Pullman's Palouse Ridge.
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