Wind blows Arkansas to ninth place

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BROWNS SUMMITT, N.C. – The 24th-ranked University of Arkansas women’s golf team played its way to 9th place with an opening round 310 at the Bryan National Intercollegiate in Browns Summitt, N.C., Friday. In what was deemed a “beautiful day for golf” on the tournament website, the Razorbacks battled strong, steady winds all afternoon. Senior Lucy Nunn paced Arkansas with a four-over 76 in the first round and is tied for 18th overall. Junior Alex Schulte carded a 77 at is tied for 25th followed by junior Kristin Ingram with a 78 in a tie for 37th. Freshman Katy Nugent added a 79 followed by an 80 from sophomore Kelli Shean rounding out the Razorback scores. “I don’t even know what to say,” said Arkansas head coach Shauna Estes-Taylor. “It’s like I’ve been in a heavyweight fight. It was so hard today and I’m sure you can see that by the scores. LSU played a phenomenal round of golf but outside of that I think you can tell the wind was pumping. It blew consistently 30 mpg with 40-45 mpg gusts. The course took six and a half hours to play.” Ninth-ranked LSU blistered the field with a two over 290. Number three Virginia and No. 11 Wake Forest were tied in second at plus-16 304, followed by No. 50 East Carolina University with a 305. Louisville, ranked No. 18, was fifth with No. 13 North Carolina and the College of Charleston rounding out the top six with 307. Arkansas’ 310 is just six strokes off the second-place team. The Razorbacks find themselves in good position against the 18-team field finishing better than three other top 20 teams in the first round. “I told girls it was survival of fittest today,” said Estes-Taylor. “I told them to get done and erase it from your memory because these are really unusual conditions. We gutted it out and I think everyone lost a few shots. Our plan is to go out tomorrow and attack this golf course – I think it owes us a couple after today. I can’t say enough about Alex. She hung in there and shot one under on the back side. Lucy’s 76 was pretty solid in these conditions.” The Bryan National is the final regular season event prior to the SEC Championship April 17-19, in Columbia, S.C. For more information about Arkansas women’s golf, log on to ArkansasRazorbacks.com.