DADE CITY, Fla. -- Lynn’s quest to repeat as NCAA Division II national champions started with the perfect lie as it holds a four-stroke lead after the first round of the NCAA Super Region Two. Jessica Bradley and Ellen Chambers are each tied for second while Louise Manalo is tied for ninth.
“We got off to a nice start today but there is a lot of golf left to play,” head coach Danny Randolph said. “This field is not going to let up just because we are in the lead, so our girls need to come back [Monday] with the same focus they showed on the course today.”
The No. 1 ranked Fighting Knights are first among the nine teams in the field after shooting a 297 team round on the Lake Jovita Golf and Country Club course. Florida Tech (301) and Barry (304) are second and third with West Florida (306) and Nova Southeastern (309) looking to crack the top three. The top three teams, along with the top three individuals not with a team, advances to the national championships held May 14-17, at Rock Barn Golf & Spa in Conover, North Carolina.Seeing the same course for the second time in three weeks appeared to play in Lynn’s favor with Bradley and Chambers each carding rounds of 72. Bradley had tied for fourth at the Sunshine State Conference Championship held at Lake Jovita. The duo is two-shots back of the leader, Daisy-May Kenny, from West Florida.
Louise Manalo also picked up where she left off at the SSC Championship, shooting a three-over par 75. The Blue & White received scores of 78 from both Samantha Smolen and Irene Calvo to round out the starting five.
Lynn begins Round 2 with a 10:30 a.m. ET tee time for Irene Calvo. The Fighting Knights will be paired with Florida Tech and Barry.
