Northwestern University Athletics
Komoto, #B1GCats Lead After 36 Holes At Shoal Creek Regional
5/6/2016 3:50:00 PM | Women's Golf
SHOAL CREEK, Ala. – Junior Kacie Komoto sits atop the individual leaderboard after 36 holes, pacing three Wildcats inside the Top-6, and No. 2 Northwestern leads the Shoal Creek Regional by six strokes heading into Saturday's final round.
The Wildcats will tee off Round 3 on Saturday at 9:09 a.m. CT paired with second-place Florida State (+20) and third-place Oklahoma State (+20).
2016 Shoal Creek NCAA Regional – LIVE LEADERBOARD (Golfstat)
2016 Shoal Creek NCAA Regional Website
Shoal Creek Club – Shoal Creek, Alabama
Golfstat NCAA D1 Women's Rankings (May 5)
In a 96-player field without a single student-athlete under-par after two rounds, Komoto ascended to the tournament lead by playing nearly mistake-free golf on Friday. The Honolulu native parred the first 14 holes of the day, part of a tournament-leading 29 pars through two days, on her way to a 1-over 73. The ranking veteran in the Wildcats lineup this weekend shares the lead with Matilda Castren of Florida State at 1-over heading into Round 3.
"I made a lot of good saves on the back nine for par, a couple of nine-footers, eight-footers," Komoto said after the round. "The last hole, I think I made a 10-footer for par. So saving those really meant a lot, especially here on such a tough golf course. I'm going to work a little bit more on my swing, try to hit a few more greens, but other than that go out there tomorrow and take it one shot at a time and see what I can do."
Northwestern leads the 18-team field with 116 pars over the first two days, and ranks among the tournament's scoring leaders on Par-3, Par-4 and Par-5 holes. The 'Cats have carded the two-best rounds (294, 296) of any team in the tournament over the first two days of competition.
"Our goal was to go out today and win the day," head coach Emily Fletcher said on Friday. "I think we were close to low round, if not low round today. If we did that, that was mission accomplished. We'll check that off and we'll try to go do it again tomorrow. It was really tough out there today, just as tough as yesterday. I thought the greens were faster. I just think our players did a great job managing themselves around the green, gave themselves good opportunities for up-and-downs, made some nice saves at some opportune times. It was tough to get the ball close to the hole today."
The Wildcats will tee off Saturday's third-and-final round with a six-shot lead over second-place Florida State, and a 26-shot cushion on the seventh-place team in the race for one of the event's Top-6 spots that clinch a berth in the 2016 NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
Sophomore Sarah Cho fired the low round of the day for Northwestern on Friday, an even-par 72, to climb ten spots up the leaderboard into sole possession of fifth-place after two rounds.
Freshman Janet Mao carded a second-straight 2-over 74 on Friday to rise to sixth-place on the leaderboard. Following a twelfth-place finish at the 2016 Big Ten Championships, the rookie is in the midst of her strongest run of play at the most important time of the season.
Shoal Creek Club has presented the stiffest challenge Northwestern has faced this season, with the average score more than six strokes above par (72) at 78.66 after two days.
Northwestern – 1/18 • 296-294-R3=590 (+14)
T1 – Kacie Komoto -- 72-73-R3=145 (+1)
5 – Sarah Cho -- 75-72-R3=147 (+3)
T6 – Janet Mao -- 74-74-R3=148 (+4)
T40 – Stephanie Lau -- 80-75-R3=155 (+11)
T46 – Hannah Kim -- 75-81-R3=156 (+12)
Northwestern women's golf's journey to the 2016 NCAA Championships begins as the No. 2 seed at the Shoal Creek NCAA Regional, hosted by the University of Alabama.
The back-to-back Big Ten Champions are participating in their seventh consecutive NCAA Regional under conference Coach of the Year Emily Fletcher. The Wildcats are in search of their fourth straight berth in the NCAA Championships, following a program-best 10th-place result last season at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.
Fletcher's lineup in the 5-count-4 format at Shoal Creek Club (Par 72; 6,470 yards) features one junior, two sophomores and two freshmen, all of whom earned All-Big Ten honors last week: Two-time Big Ten Player of the Year Hannah Kim, Big Ten Freshman of the Year Stephanie Lau, First Team honorees Kacie Komoto and Sarah Cho, and Second Teamer Janet Mao.
The Wildcats competition in the 18-team field includes four opponents currently ranked in the Top-20 of the Golfstat rankings, and eight more ranked in the Top-50. No. 1 seed Alabama (Ranked No. 1 in the nation), No. 3 Oklahoma State (9), No. 4 California (16) and No. 5 Iowa State (17) join No. 2 Northwestern (8) to make up the top five seeds at Shoal Creek.
The remainder of the lineup includes sixth-seeded Florida State (22); No. 7 Tennessee (25); No. 8 Missouri (32); No. 9 Purdue (36); No. 10 Notre Dame (40); No. 11 Vanderbilt (41); No. 12 Clemson (47); No. 13 Michigan (50); No. 14 Middle Tennessee State; No. 15 New Mexico State; No. 16 Eastern Kentucky; No. 17 Oakland (Mich.) and No. 18 Alabama State.
The Top-6 teams after 54 holes (and Top-3 individuals not on one of those teams) will advance to the 2016 NCAA Championships on May 20-25 at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.
The Wildcats will tee off Round 3 on Saturday at 9:09 a.m. CT paired with second-place Florida State (+20) and third-place Oklahoma State (+20).
2016 Shoal Creek NCAA Regional – LIVE LEADERBOARD (Golfstat)
2016 Shoal Creek NCAA Regional Website
Shoal Creek Club – Shoal Creek, Alabama
Golfstat NCAA D1 Women's Rankings (May 5)
In a 96-player field without a single student-athlete under-par after two rounds, Komoto ascended to the tournament lead by playing nearly mistake-free golf on Friday. The Honolulu native parred the first 14 holes of the day, part of a tournament-leading 29 pars through two days, on her way to a 1-over 73. The ranking veteran in the Wildcats lineup this weekend shares the lead with Matilda Castren of Florida State at 1-over heading into Round 3.
"I made a lot of good saves on the back nine for par, a couple of nine-footers, eight-footers," Komoto said after the round. "The last hole, I think I made a 10-footer for par. So saving those really meant a lot, especially here on such a tough golf course. I'm going to work a little bit more on my swing, try to hit a few more greens, but other than that go out there tomorrow and take it one shot at a time and see what I can do."
Junior Kacie Komoto tied for first heading into third round, leading three #B1GCats in Top-6 after 36 holes. pic.twitter.com/nALeLbUJIQ
— #B1GCats Golf (@NUGolf_Live) May 6, 2016
Northwestern leads the 18-team field with 116 pars over the first two days, and ranks among the tournament's scoring leaders on Par-3, Par-4 and Par-5 holes. The 'Cats have carded the two-best rounds (294, 296) of any team in the tournament over the first two days of competition.
"Our goal was to go out today and win the day," head coach Emily Fletcher said on Friday. "I think we were close to low round, if not low round today. If we did that, that was mission accomplished. We'll check that off and we'll try to go do it again tomorrow. It was really tough out there today, just as tough as yesterday. I thought the greens were faster. I just think our players did a great job managing themselves around the green, gave themselves good opportunities for up-and-downs, made some nice saves at some opportune times. It was tough to get the ball close to the hole today."
The Wildcats will tee off Saturday's third-and-final round with a six-shot lead over second-place Florida State, and a 26-shot cushion on the seventh-place team in the race for one of the event's Top-6 spots that clinch a berth in the 2016 NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon.
#B1GCats will take six-shot lead into Saturday's final round, 26 shots clear of cut line for NCAA qualification. pic.twitter.com/LGdX9kO851
— #B1GCats Golf (@NUGolf_Live) May 6, 2016
Sophomore Sarah Cho fired the low round of the day for Northwestern on Friday, an even-par 72, to climb ten spots up the leaderboard into sole possession of fifth-place after two rounds.
Freshman Janet Mao carded a second-straight 2-over 74 on Friday to rise to sixth-place on the leaderboard. Following a twelfth-place finish at the 2016 Big Ten Championships, the rookie is in the midst of her strongest run of play at the most important time of the season.
Shoal Creek Club has presented the stiffest challenge Northwestern has faced this season, with the average score more than six strokes above par (72) at 78.66 after two days.
Northwestern – 1/18 • 296-294-R3=590 (+14)
T1 – Kacie Komoto -- 72-73-R3=145 (+1)
5 – Sarah Cho -- 75-72-R3=147 (+3)
T6 – Janet Mao -- 74-74-R3=148 (+4)
T40 – Stephanie Lau -- 80-75-R3=155 (+11)
T46 – Hannah Kim -- 75-81-R3=156 (+12)
Northwestern women's golf's journey to the 2016 NCAA Championships begins as the No. 2 seed at the Shoal Creek NCAA Regional, hosted by the University of Alabama.
The back-to-back Big Ten Champions are participating in their seventh consecutive NCAA Regional under conference Coach of the Year Emily Fletcher. The Wildcats are in search of their fourth straight berth in the NCAA Championships, following a program-best 10th-place result last season at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla.
Fletcher's lineup in the 5-count-4 format at Shoal Creek Club (Par 72; 6,470 yards) features one junior, two sophomores and two freshmen, all of whom earned All-Big Ten honors last week: Two-time Big Ten Player of the Year Hannah Kim, Big Ten Freshman of the Year Stephanie Lau, First Team honorees Kacie Komoto and Sarah Cho, and Second Teamer Janet Mao.
The Wildcats competition in the 18-team field includes four opponents currently ranked in the Top-20 of the Golfstat rankings, and eight more ranked in the Top-50. No. 1 seed Alabama (Ranked No. 1 in the nation), No. 3 Oklahoma State (9), No. 4 California (16) and No. 5 Iowa State (17) join No. 2 Northwestern (8) to make up the top five seeds at Shoal Creek.
The remainder of the lineup includes sixth-seeded Florida State (22); No. 7 Tennessee (25); No. 8 Missouri (32); No. 9 Purdue (36); No. 10 Notre Dame (40); No. 11 Vanderbilt (41); No. 12 Clemson (47); No. 13 Michigan (50); No. 14 Middle Tennessee State; No. 15 New Mexico State; No. 16 Eastern Kentucky; No. 17 Oakland (Mich.) and No. 18 Alabama State.
The Top-6 teams after 54 holes (and Top-3 individuals not on one of those teams) will advance to the 2016 NCAA Championships on May 20-25 at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.
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