March 31, 2012
Live Scoring and Results
TEMPE, Ariz. - Three early birdies followed by nine straight pars in a bogey-free round Saturday sparked Demi Runas to a 3-under 68 and into second place for the No. 26 UC Davis women's golf team which is tied for fourth after two rounds of the PING/ASU Invitational.
Runas, who won the season-opening Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic at Colorado State last September, is just one shot out of the lead as she vies for her second career win overall. The Aggie junior is at 4-under 138 and only trails leader Tiffany Lua of UCLA who has back-to-back rounds of 68 and 69 and is 5 under.
UC Davis was in fourth place after Friday's first round before carding an 8-over 292 on Saturday. The Aggies are at 10-over 578 overall and tied for fourth with host Arizona State which is ranked fifth.
Top-ranked UCLA shot 281 on Saturday to take a nine-shot advantage at 3-under 565. Texas, ranked 31st, and No. 13 Texas A&M are tied for second. Eighth-ranked LSU (11 over) is just a shot back of UC Davis and Arizona State.
Freshman Blair Lewis posted the Aggies' second-best score Saturday, shooting 74. She's tied for 57th at 8-over 150. Junior Amy Simanton is tied for 26th at 4-over 146 after her round of 75, a round matched by freshman Beverly Vatananugulkit who is tied for 33rd at 5-over 147. Sophomore Jessica Chulya had a 79 and is tied for 67th at 10-over 152.
"We have played very well the past two days even though we still feel like we left a lot of shots out there," said head coach Anne Walker. "We had a great showing from our freshmen today and that is the key ingredient for us right now."
Runas was spectacular on Saturday, picking up birdies on the No. 2, No. 5 and No. 9 holes to make her turn 3 under. She then strung together nine consecutive pars over the back to post the tournament's low round of the day.
Lewis scrambled to a 1-over 36 over her first nine holes of the second round, opening with two straight birdies before another birdie, three pars, two bogeys and a double-bogey combined to put her just a shot over par. She played the back nine 2 over, finishing with a two-shot improvement over Friday's 76.
Simanton began her day by posting a birdie on the par-4 1st hole and then had another birdie on the back nine to help her shoot 75. She played the first nine holes particularly well, heading into the last nine just one shot over par.
Vatananugulkt was 3 over midway through her round on Saturday but was just 1 over on the back, sparking her day with a birdie on the par-4 13th. Chulya birdied the same hole to help highlight her second round.
The ASU tournament is one of the strongest this season. All but one of the 17 teams are ranked in Golfstat's top 50, including five in the top 10 and eight in the top 25. UC Davis is currently in front of seven teams ranked higher than it, including four teams in the top 10.
"Demi and Amy are doing a fantastic job in leading us," Walker said. "I'm looking forward to watching them tomorrow in what is predicted to be a very windy day with gusts up to 40 mph. I think tomorrow will challenge us to the limit, especially our younger players."
The tournament concludes with 18 holes on Sunday. UC Davis will begin play at 8:10 a.m. and will play with No. 8 LSU and the host Sun Devils. It's being played at Karsten Golf Course which is measuring 6,121 yards for this week's tournament.
PING/ASU INVITATIONAL
Tempe, Ariz. (hosted by Arizona State)
Karsten Golf Course
Par 71, 6,121 yards
36 of 54 holes
TEAMS
1. UCLA, 284-281-565
T2. Texas, 289-285-574
T2. Texas A&M, 287-287-574
T4. UC DAVIS, 286-292-578
T4. Arizona State, 280-298-578
6. LSU, 294-285-579
T7. UNLV, 287-295-582
T7. Stanford, 284-298-582
9. TCU, 292-294-586
T10. Arizona, 291-297-588
T10. USC, 289-299-588
T12. New Mexico, 302-291-593
T12. Oklahoma State, 296-297-593
T14. Vanderbilt, 295-299-594
T14. Washington, 298-296-594
16. San Diego State, 302-298-600
17. Oregon State, 306-313-619
INDIVIDUAL
1. Tiffany Lua, UCLA, 68-69-137
UC DAVIS
2. Demi Runas, 70-68-138
T26. Amy Simanton, 71-75-146
T33. Beverly Vatanagulkit, 72-75-147
T57. Blair Lewis, 76-74-150
T67. Jessica Chulya, 73-79-152
