The No. 15-seeded Long Beach State women’s golf team ended the second round of the NCAA West Regional in 17th place Friday.
Entering the day in a six-way tie for 13th place, the 49ers shot 22-over-par 310 at the Karsten Golf Course on the campus of Arizona State in Tempe. LBSU carded a 299 in Thursday’s opening round.
The host Sun Devils lead the field of 21 teams by a comfortable 16 strokes over second-place Southern California and 17 shots over third-place UC Irvine. ASU was the only team to finish under par in the opening round as they fired a 15-under 273.
Senior All-American Kay Hoey, who started the round tied for 32nd, fired an even-par 72 score to move into a six-way tie for 19th. Hoey recorded a pair of birdies and three bogeys on the back nine, but came back with a bogey-free front nine and a birdie on the par-4 second hole.
Freshman Lee Lopez, who also started her day in 32nd, dropped into a tie for 41st after shooting a 75 plagued by four bogeys
“We’re all just a little disappointed in how we played today,” 49er head coach Sue Ewart said. “Kay and Lee were the most solid amongst the five players but we really needed the other three to step up and play to their ability. Unfortunately, this course will show your weaknesses and we put ourselves in some bad places to recover from. Though we shot ourselves in the foot this morning, I have no doubt that we can come back and play well tomorrow and show everyone what we’re capable of.”
Sophomore Reina Rogers shot an 82 to tie for 91st, while junior Brenda Chhuor carded an 84 to tie for 97th. Sophomore Lindsey McAtee improved by three shots as she finished the round with an 81 to place 102nd.
The Sun Devils’ Carlota Ciganda sits atop the leaderboard with a one-stroke lead over second-place Jane Chin of UCI and Belen Mozo of USC. Ciganda owns a two-round score of 9-under 135.