The Chattanooga Mocs are in 19th-place with 18 holes to play at the NCAA Women’s Golf West Regional. Chattanooga shot 312 today and is at 628 through 36 holes.
A mere six strokes separate the Mocs and 14th-place Denver at 622. The Pioneers are just ahead of Tennessee (623), New Mexico (624), Oregon (625) and Notre Dame (627). The Fighting Irish are one ahead of Chattanooga.
Sophomore Emily McLennan (Queensland, Australia) led the Mocs in round two with a 76. She got off to a rough start with a triple bogey on her second hole before playing the final 16 at one over. Porsche Campbell (Vancouver, Canada) and Isabella Loza (Bucaramanga, Colombia) were next shooting twin 78’s, while Agathe Sauzon (Valence, France) added an 80. Jordan Britt (Chattanooga, Tenn.) had the drop tally with an 82.
Chattanooga battled tough conditions early. High winds, cold temperatures and intermittent rain greeted the squad. Despite that, the team was 12 over through its first nine holes as scores started to soar. The Mocs started on the back nine which is considered the easier of the two sides.
The front nine would take its toll. It allowed just two birdies to its visitors from the east. Loza ended a string of three straight bogeys with a birdie on one, her 10th hole of the day, while Sauzon did the same on the par five fourth. Campbell was the steadiest Moc on holes 1-9. She turned in eight pars with just one bogey.
There is a tie at the top of the leaderboard. First round leader No. 1 USC and No. 6 Arizona State are at plus two (578), two ahead of No. 11 Washington (580) in third. Kyung Kim (USC) and SooBin Kim (Washington) are tied for the individual lead at minus four (140). Noemi Jimenez (Arizona State) and Marijosse Navarro (Texas A&M) are tied for third at 141 (-3).
The final round starts at 10:30 a.m., Eastern time Saturday for the top 12 teams. Chattanooga is in the afternoon wave. Its pairing with Portland State and San Diego State opens on the first tee at 3:55 p.m. Sauzon gets it started for the Mocs followed by Britt (4:06), Loza (4:17), Campbell (4:28) and McLennan (4:39). Live scoring and tee times are linked above.