OCU trails British Columbia in NAIA National Championship
Despite having two of the top three individuals, Oklahoma City University finds itself 10 shots behind British Columbia going into the final round of the NAIA National Championship on the West Course at Lincoln Park.
Maddi Kamas shot a second consecutive 3-under 69 Thursday and is at 6-under through two rounds of the championship which will be shortened from 72 to 54 holes due to rain. Reagan Chaney is a shot back at 5-under after a 69. They trail MinJi Kang of Truett McConnell who is at 9-under after rounds of 69-66.
Top-ranked OCU will need more help for its freshman duo in the final round to overtake British Columbia, which is led by Grace Bell at 4-under and Sonja Tang at 3-under.
For OCU in the second round, Paige Wood shot 74, Rachel Eckert 80 and Natalie Gough 81. The team score of 292 was six shots over the 286 shot by British Columbia, whom it trailed by four to start the round.
SCAD – Savannah is in third place, just two shots behind OCU at 584, while Dalton State is fourth at 588. One of Dalton State’s players is Sydney Herrmann of Ponca City, and she has shot rounds of 73-77 and is tied for 50th at 150.
The field will be cut to the low 17 teams for the final round which will begin at 8 a.m. The leaders will tee off between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m.
The early group Thursday finished their first round in the morning by 9:30 a.m. leading into their second round. Kamas played 25 holes, while the rest of the Stars put in 26 holes Thursday.
“I kept the mindset of it being a full 18 and kind of not a new fresh round which I think helped me play better through the first nine,” Kamas said. “The second round I played really consistent. I did have a few holes where I missed hit the green, but I made my up and down most of the time. I only had two bogeys today which was a big deal. It definitely gives me a lot of confidence going into tomorrow.”
The Stars shot a 290-292–582 on the par-72, 6,013-yard course for the best two-round team score by OCU in the NAIA Championships. Third-ranked British Columbia led the tournament with a 286-286–572, which set NAIA Championships marks for best team round and top 36-hole team score. Oklahoma City established the tournament record for one round with a 287, while British Columbia had the 36-hole tournament record with a 294-296–590, both in the 2019 NAIA Championships at Lincoln Park.
Kamas sank five birdies during her second round to give her 11 for the tournament. Kamas avoided bogeys on the front nine. Kamas carded her career-best two-round total of 66-70–136 on the first day of the Sydney Cox Invitational on Oct. 11-12 at Lincoln Park. Sholer was a freshman when she set the tournament record.
Chaney, a freshman from Ardmore, Okla., stood one stroke behind Kamas with a 70-69–139. Chaney notched four birdies in the second round for a tournament total of eight. Chaney limited herself to one bogey on the 10th hole.
The sun came out Thursday with the skies partly cloudy in the morning and clearing by mid-day. The temperature rose from the mid-50s in the morning to the mid-70s during the day.