DENVER, Colo. – After gloomy weather for their practice round on Tuesday, top-ranked Rollins came out in perfect conditions on Wednesday and shot a first round 290, good for a tie for first after day one at the 2016 National Championship.
Rollins started the day on the back and hung around the top third of the leaderboard all morning long as just a few shots separated the top-five for much of the round.
Fourth-ranked Nova Southeastern matched the Tars with a first round 290 while both sit three shots ahead of No. 11 Dallas Baptist (293), who is alone in third. No. 17 Augustana University (297) is fourth after day one with No. 30 Findlay (299) rounding out the top five after one round.
Lexie Toth leads Rollins after a 1-under round of 71 on Wednesday and will head into Thursday tied for fourth. Seniors Annie Dulman (72) and Hally Leadbetter (72) both shot even-par and are tied for sixth. Paige Lyle shot 75 and is tied for 28th and Madison Lellyo (78) is tied for 49th.
Toth’s day opened with five straight pars before going birdie-bogey-birdie on 15, 16, and 17 to sit at 1-under at the turn. The sophomore then shot even par on the front, carding a bogey at No. 1 before birdieing the par-5 third.
Dulman carded two birdies, 14 pars, and a par of bogey’s on Wednesday en route to her 72 with Leadbetter posting four birdie’s, 12 pars, and four bogey’s on the day. The senior birdied two of her last three holes and got up and down from just off the green on nine to pull back to even par for the day.
Lyle’s lone blemish on her first nine was a double on the par four 13th, as she shot a two-over 38 on the front before coming back with a 37 on the back, including one birdie, six pars, and a pair of bogey’s. Lellyo’s carded three birdie’s, six pars, and nine bogey’s in round one.
Rollins will play with Dallas Baptist and Indianapolis in round two, teeing off on No. 1 starting at 10:50 a.m. ET. Fans can follow all the action live at NCAA.com.
