Mississippi State
NCAA Championships
MSU Moves Into Top 5 With One Round Remaining In NCAA Championship
May 23, 2014 | Women's Golf
TULSA, Okla. – Following a fast start in the third round of the NCAA Championship, the Mississippi State women's golf team moved up three spots on the leaderboard into fifth heading into the final round of the NCAA Championship, while Ally McDonald remains in top-10.
Coming behind the record-setting 285 second-round score, MSU improved by two strokes to set a new school-record for lowest NCAA Championship round at 3-over-par 283, tying for the fifth-best round of the day. The Bulldogs got off to a flying start combining for nine birdies in the first four holes before ending the round with 19 birdies.
“We didn't have too different of a plan today,” fourth-year head coach Ginger Brown-Lemm said. “We knew if we were able to shoot a 285 yesterday that there was much lower out there today. Ally had a really challenging day, which isn't normal for her, but that's why it's team golf. We had some others that picked it up and ran with it.”
Shooting a remarkable eight shots better than her Wednesday round was Rica Tse, who matched her career-best round with a 1-under-par 69 third round with four birdies. Tse got off to an excellent start with three consecutive birdies to open her round leading to a 3-under-par performance on her first nine holes.
The Auckland, New Zealand, native later added another birdie on hole 2 to record her lowest round of the year since her 69 in the opening round of the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational back in October.
“It definitely makes the round easier when you start with three birdies,” Tse said. “We have worked really hard all year on and off the golf course. I would put my team up against anyone in the nation to go for it. It's nice to see us in the top five in the best tournament in the nation.”
Tying Tse for the best Bulldog round on the day was freshman Ji Eun Baik, who used six birdies in her round to complete a six-shot-turnaround from her second to third round. Baik showed great composure to recover from a bogey on her opening hole to birdie two of her next three holes and then another on the 16th hole.
Baik notched a birdie on her first hole after making the turn at 1-under, and then fired back-to-back birdies on holes 4 and 5 to register the most birdies of any MSU player in a single round at the championships.
All-SEC selection McDonald held her spot in the top-10 with a 1-over-par 71 Thursday round to earn a share of eighth at 2-over-par 212 heading into the final round. McDonald claimed three birdies in her third round to move within one birdie from tying her program-record for most birdies in a single season at 110.
“Last year, I was kind of in contention going into the last day,” said McDonald. “I did a lot of scoreboard watching and I really let that play on my mind. So tomorrow I'm just going to go out and hit as many fairways and as many greens. Wherever it puts me, it puts me.”
Jessica Peng and Mary Langdon Gallagher each turned in 4-over-par 74 second rounds with three birdies each to round out the Maroon and White scorecard. All-SEC Freshman Peng entered the freshman record books again as her 74 birdies on the year is better than any other freshman in school history. The Bulldogs' only senior Gallagher will play her final collegiate round on Friday, making it the 120th round at MSU.
No. 3 Duke will take the top score into the final round at 16-over-par 856. Celine Boutier of the Blue Devils gained the top individual spot at 3-under-par 207.
Brown-Lemm's squad will tee off Friday's final round at 11:20 a.m. CST on hole 1, paired with No. 2 UCLA and No. 5 Arizona State.
Live stats and post-round results will be available through Hailstate.com and GolfStat.com. The 16, 17 and 18 holes of tomorrow's round will be streamed live for the public to watch at NCAA.com.
Updates will be provided on the Mississippi State women's golf Twitter account, @HailStateWG, and Facebook page, facebook.com/HailStateWG.
NCAA Championship
Third Round – May 22, 2014
TEAM RESULTS
1. No. 3 Duke (293-285-278=856, +16); 2. No. 1 Southern California (293-291-278=862, +22); 3. No. 7 Oklahoma (288-287-291=866, +26); 4. No. 2 UCLA (291-293-283=867, +27); 5. No. 27 Mississippi State (302-285-283=870, +30); T6. No. 5 Arizona State (293-287-291=871, +31); T6. No. 11 Arizona (298-286-287=871, +31); T6. No. 17 NC State (307-284-280=871, +31); 9. No. 31 Tulane (303-294-278=875, +35); T10. No. 22 Ohio State (299-291-288=878, +38); T10. No. 15 Northwestern (305-289-284=878, +38); T12. No. 10 Alabama (305-285-289=879, +39); T12. No. 8 Vanderbilt (303-290-286=879, +39); 14. No. 12 Stanford (300-286-294=880, +40); 15. No. 6 Washington (299-289-293=881, +41); 16. No. 4 South Carolina (301-299-283=883, +43); 17. No. 30 Texas A&M (305-292-288=885, +45) 18. No. 18 Virginia (303-295-288=886, +46); 19. No. 21 Florida (305-292-290=887, +47); T20. No. 25 California (296-302-289=890, +50); T20. No. 20 Michigan State (305-283-302=890, +50); 22. No. 24 Iowa State (306-298-292=896, +56): 23. No. 45 Campbell (305-303-289=897, +57); 24. No. 29 Kansas (313-293-303=909, +69)
MSU INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
T8. Ally McDonald 73-68-71=212, +2
T35. Jessica Peng 75-70-74=219, +9
T57. Mary Langdon Gallagher 76-72-74=222, +12
T69. Ji Eun Baik 80-75-69=224, +14
T69. Rica Tse 78-77-69=224, +14
- HailState.com -
Players Mentioned
