Fonseca Diaz ends day one in second place
Dale McNamara Invitational
|
TULSA, Okla.- Consistency helped Kansas women’s golfer Ariadna Fonseca Diaz get to and stay near the top of the leaderboard in second place after two rounds Monday at the Dale McNamara Invitational. Fonseca Diaz fired a 1-under 69 and followed it with a 2-over 72 to put her at 1-over for the day. Fonseca Diaz birdied five of the 36 holes, while only scoring a bogey on six holes.
“Ari did a good job of finding a couple of simple keys to focus on her swing and putting, which helped her stay steady and confident throughout the day,” head coach Erin O’Neil said. “Tomorrow is a new day with new challenges and she will need to continue to focus on what is in her control and play the course.”
Seven strokes behind Fonseca Diaz is Xinyun Yu, who is competing as an individual and stands in 13th place.
Sophomore Victoria Chandra currently sits one stroke behind Yu in a tie for 14th place after shooting a two-round 149 (+9).
Following two birdies in her last three holes on the day, sophomore Chomchana Phuchanbanchob moved up two spots to finish 16-over and in a tie for 30th place.
Kansas juniors Pitsinee Winyarat and Kallie Gonzales, who is competing as an individual, are tied for 33rd place, following a two-round 157.
KU’s highest finisher on the leaderboard at last week’s Hawkeye-El Tigre Invitational, Yi-Tsen Chou is a stroke behind Winyarat and Gonzales and in 37th place after an 18-over performance. Chou improved nine strokes from round one to round two, shooting an 84 in the first and a 75 in the second.
As a team, Kansas is tied for fourth place with Fresno State, shooting a 39-over 599. The Jayhawks fired 15 birdies on the day.
The Tulsa Country Club, at par-70, proved to be a challenge for all teams at the event, with the leading team, New Mexico State, shooting 30-over after two rounds. Tulsa (+31) and BYU (+38) follow New Mexico State on the leaderboard.
“The course has tricky greens, especially when it is windy,” O’Neil said. “We got ourselves in difficult situations and made some big numbers. We need to be more disciplined and take care of the little details in our control throughout the final round.”
The final round of the Dale McNamara Invitational concludes Tuesday with an 8 a.m. start time.
KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.