DIII Women's Golf: Rhodes vaults into lead after Day 2

Rhodes College stormed back from an early-round weather delay to jump into the lead after the second round of the NCAA Division III Women’s Golf National Championship Wednesday (May 11th) in Houston. The Lynx are looking to claim their second national title in three years after taking the 2014 championship.

MORE: Full team leaderboard

Sarahanne Vaughan and Emily Salamy both carded even-par 72’s to lead the Rhodes charge to the top of the team standings. The Lynx posted a 298 team score in the second round and their 312-298=610 total is good for a three-stroke lead over Wittenberg University. The Tigers posted a 303 on Wednesday to follow up an opening-round 310 for a 613 total. First-round leader U.T.-Tyler dropped to third place at 303-311=614, one stroke off of Wittenberg’s total. George Fox University fell to fourth place with a 307-315=622 and University of Redlands took over fifth place after carding a 318-305=623. Teams were playing in near-perfect weather conditions before lightning in the area forced a delay from 9:41 to 11:47 AM Central Time. The sun broke through as teams returned to the course and the wind picked up, but neither the wind nor delay seemed to affect the teams at the top of the leaderboard. Defending national champion Williams College is lurking just outside the top five, in sixth place with a 317-309=626. The final pairings closed out their rounds in twilight conditions due to the delay.

Wittenberg University’s Macy Hubbard followed up her record-breaking opening round with a one-under-par and the 2015 Individual Runner-Up holds in the individual lead with a four-under-par 69-71=140. Caroline Ordian of University of Redlands was two-under on the day and took over second-place individually at 73-70=143. Both of those players broke the record for the two-round low individual total in an NCAA Women’s Golf Championship. Whitman College’s Phoebe Nguyen is in third place after posting 70-77=147, Emily Thul of St. Thomas (MN) holds down fourth place with a 76-72=148 and Vaughan leaped into top five at 77-72=149.

The four-day, 72-hole event is being played on a par-72, 5,869-yard layout at Bay Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas. Morning wave tee times for Thursday’s third round begin at 7:45 AM Central Time. Afternoon wave tee times will begin at 12:15 PM. There is a 21-team field competing in the tournament and all 109 players will compete in all four rounds.