Feb. 14, 2012

Results

PALOS VERDES, Calif. - Blair Lewis had four birdies on her back nine Tuesday as she carded a 1-over 72 , helping the UC Davis women's golf team climb two spots into 13th place after two rounds of the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge at Palos Verdes Golf Club.

Lewis, a freshman from La Mesa, carded the Aggies' best round of the 15-team tournament so far and had a nine-shot improvement over her opening-day 81. She jumped into a tie for 44th place while helping No. 21 UC Davis cut 10 strokes off its first-round score and post a 16-over 300.

The Aggies are 44-over 612, just two shots behind 14th-ranked Florida (300) and four behind No. 39 Denver (608) in the three-day tournament being hosted by Ohio State.

Junior Demi Runas is tied for 26th after shooting a 75, sophomore Jessica Chulya finished with a 76 and is tied with Lewis for 44th, junior Amy Simanton's 77 was a three-shot improvement and put her into a tie for 60th, and freshman Beverly Vatananugulkit is tied for 65th after her round of 78, also a three-stroke improvement.

Top-ranked UCLA continues to run away from the highly talented field, collecting a 2-over 286 to go 2 over 570 for the event and lead rival USC (588), ranked fourth, by 18 shots. Pepperdine, ranked 34th, is third at 592 while No. 8 Arizona State is fifth at 597.

Lindy Duncan of Duke shot par 71 and has a one-shot advantage over UCLA's Erynne Lee who fired a 69. They are the only players below par.

Lewis had six pars and three bogeys over her front nine on Tuesday and dropped two more strokes to start her back nine before posting birdies on four of her final seven holes, including the par-5 5th and 7th holes.

"Blair played seven great holes of golf," said Aggie coach Anne Walker. "It is a glimpse of the potential Blair has to shoot really low numbers."

Runas remained in the upper portion of the leaderboard after backing up Monday's 74 with a round of 75, going to 7 over for the week. Two birdies helped her make her turn even. Chulya is 11 over after also collecting a pair of birdies on her front nine - she had three overall - to partly counter four bogeys early in her round.

Simanton had nine pars and two birdies and played her final seven holes even, helping her go to 15 over for the tournament. Vatananugulkit was just 2 over after nine holes, carding a birdie on the par-4 17th hole, and going to 17 over for the event.

The tournament features one of the deepest fields this season with three top-10 and seven top-20 teams competing. All 15 teams are ranked in Golfstat's top 50.

The Aggies will conclude the 54-hole tournament on Wednesday. The shotgun final round begins at 8 a.m.

NORTHROP GRUMMAN REGIONAL CHALLENGE
Palos Verdes, Calif. (hosted by Ohio State)
Palos Verdes Golf Club
Par 71; 5,192 yards
36 of 54 holes

TEAMS
1. UCLA, 284-286-570
2. USC, 297-291-588
3. Pepperdine, 300-292-592
4. Duke, 292-302-594
5. Arizona State, 302-295-597
T6. Ohio State, 296-302-598
T6. Colorado, 303-295-598
8. Michigan State, 302-297-599
9. Oregon, 304-300-604
10. Florida State, 296-309-605
11. Denver, 295-313-608
12. Florida, 302-308-610
13. UC DAVIS, 312 -300-612
14. Oklahoma, 310-310-620
15. Wake Forest, 310-314-624

INDIVIDUAL
1. Lindy Duncan, 69-71-140

UC DAVIS
T26. Demi Runas, 74-75-149
T44. Blair Lewis, 81-72-153
T44. Jessica Chulya, 77-76-153
T60. Amy Simanton, 80-77-157
T65. Beverly Vatananugulkit, 81-78-159