Holmslykke Battles Tough Course At NCAA Championship In Fayetteville

Saturday Update 5:50 p.m.
Linette Holmslykke's second round at the NCAA Women's Golf Championship never got going as heavy rain came through Northwest Arkansas and made it so that she never even got to the range to warm up.

Check back here later and the new tee time for the Racer senior will be posted.

NCAA Round 1
Murray State's Linette Holmslykke hit a historic shot at 8:10 a.m. Friday morning when she cracked a driver right down the middle at the 10^th tee of the Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Holmslykke, is the first Ohio Valley Conference woman to qualify and play in the NCAA Championship finals.

In round one, Holmslykke was part of the morning wave of players and was paired with Virunpat Olankitkunchai of Maryland and Michaela Fletcher of Memphis. Holmslykke managed to win her group with a 4-over-par 77 and it was good for a spot in 27th place in the field of 96 players.
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Holmslykke made four pars to start her round, but had two bogeys and a lip-out birdie try for a nine-hole total of 2-over-par 38. On the front nine, she made her first birdie of the day at the par-5 2^nd hold, before suffering a double-bogey at the par-4 5^th hole. She had two good looks at birdie coming home, but didn't make either and finished with an inward 2-over-par 38 and posted a 77.

Her goal is to stay in the top-9 individuals in order to make the cut and play in the final round Monday.

At the end of day one, there was only four players under par, led by Arizona's Bianca Pagdanganan who carded a 4-under-par 69.

On the team side of the event, Texas and host Arkansas were tied at the top each with a 302, while Stanford and Arizona were in third place at 304 and Duke rounded out the top-5 teams with a 305.

Holmslykke has a 12:50 p.m. tee time for round two Saturday.

Blessings GC is playing to a par of 73 and a length of 6,473 yards.

Round 1 Notes
The Blessings Golf Club is the home to the University of Arkansas golf teams. The course proved in round one that it is a formidable test. One of the hardest parts of the Blessings is it's terrain. The student-athletes are walking a very hilly track and by the event gets to the last day of stroke play on Monday, fitness will become a big factor.

All 24 teams and 12 individuals will complete 54 holes of stroke play (Friday through Sunday). The top-15 teams along with the top nine individuals not on an advancing team will play one additional day of stroke play (Monday) to determine the top eight teams for match play competition and the 72-hole stroke-play individual champion.

Holmslykke is third among the 12 individuals in the event after the first 18 holes.

NCAA Women's Golf Championship
Round 1 Scores - Individuals
Blessings GC - Johnson, Arkansas
May 17, 2019
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Individual Scores
T13 Amanda Hollandsworth (Virginia Tech ) 75
T19 Allyson Geer-Park (Michigan State) 76
T27 Linette Holmslykke (Murray State ) 77
T39 Mikayla Fitzpatrick (Xavier ) 78 78
T39 Aneka Seumanutafa (Ohio State) 78
T53 Angelica Moresco (Alabama) 79
T67 Haylin Harris (Michigan State) 80
T81 Kaitlin Milligan (Oklahoma) 81
T81 Michaela Fletcher (Memphis) 81
T95 Kathleen Scavo (Oregon) 82
T101 Virunpat Olankitkunchai (Maryland) 83
T124 Ellie Slama (Oregon State ) 88

Holmslykke was honored this week as the Elite 90 Award winner Women's Golf Championship. The Elite 90, an award founded by the NCAA, recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers. The Elite 90 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's championships.

Holmslykke reached the NCAA finals by nearly winning the Auburn Regional (May 6-8) when she carded scores of 75-76=71=211 to finish only one shot off the lead for the medalist title at Saughahatchee Country Club. Holmslykke's 7-under-par 65 was her career-best round and along with Brooke Riley of Northwestern, they were the only players to post a 65 among the 384 players from the four NCAA regionals.

Holmslykke, the 2019 OVC Player of the Year, has been a model of consistency this season with seven second-place finishes and an OVC leading 72.7 stroke average. She placed second at the OVC Tournament (April 15-17) and helped the Racers post their third-straight OVC Tournament title.

Blessings Golf Club is located along Clear Creek. The course was originally designed by architect Robert Trent Jones, Jr. in 2004, with a redesign recently completed by architect Kyle Phillips. The course plays through two distinct landforms-the Clear Creek floodplain and a plateau that rises to 165 feet above the floodplain where it's bisected by a series of ravines. Both the outward and inward nines climb up and down between the two topographies.

Murray State University Athletics

Holmslykke Battles Tough Course At NCAA Championship In Fayetteville

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