ECU In 19th After Day One At NCAA Regional
May 06, 2011 | Women's Golf
May 6, 2011
Round 1 Results 
l Round 2 Tee Times
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Senior Colleen Estes carded an opening round 75 (+3) and currently sits in a tie for 26th place at the NCAA Central Regional, which is being played at the par-72, 6,208-yard Warren Golf Course.
Estes, who along with Amber Littman is participating her fourth-straight NCAA Regional, fired a front round 36 and a back nine 39 with a pair of birdies (holes 9 and 12), five bogies and 11 pars.
Sitting in a log jam in a tie for 79th are the remaining four ECU golfers at eight-over par (80). Littman registered 12 pars while 2011 Conference USA Freshman-of-the-Year winner Fanny Wolte had 11 pars and six bogies in her first NCAA Regional appearance. Fellow freshman Faith Hardison birdied No. 17 to go along with her 12 pars and three bogeys and second-team All C-USA performer Amy Otteson logged 10 pars and eight bogeys.
Notre Dame's Nicole Zhang and UCLA's Ani Gulugian share the top of the leaderboard at one-under par (71).
After falling to two-over par after the first four holes, Zhang played the final 14 holes at three under to climb into red numbers. The freshman also put together back-to-back birdies on the seventh and eighth holes to finish the front nine at even par (36).
Gulugian put together a similar card to Zhang's, finishing her round with three birdies, two bogies and 13 pars. After playing the front nine at even, she entered her final hole at level par before posting a birdie-3 to pull into the first-place tie.
In team competition, ECU currently sits alone in 19th place with a first round score of 315 (+27) and is 12 strokes out of eighth place. Second-ranked and top-seeded UCLA Bruins put together the top round of the day, finishing at three over par (291) to carry a four shot lead over LSU (295, +7) into second round action. Aside from Gulugian's one-under score, Lee Lopez (72, E), Stephanie Kono (74, +2) and Glory Yang (74, +2) closed out the UCLA scoring.
The Tigers turned to Megan McChrystal and Amalie Valle, who posted identical scores of 72 (E), to pace their lineup. Entering the 17th hole, McCrystal, the number one player in the Golfstat rankings, sat at three over par but finished with a bang, carding an eagle on No. 17 before closing with a birdie on No. 18. Austin Ernst (74, +2) and Jacqueline Hedwall (77, +5) completed the LSU rotation.
The host Notre Dame Fighting Irish round out the top three after finishing at 10-over par (298) after day one. Becca Huffer finished second amongst the Irish at three over par (75) with So-Hyun Park and Katie Conway finishing one stroke back with identical scores of 76 (+4).
The shot of the day came on the par-3, 14th hole where Kent State's Mandi Morrow fired a six iron from 169 yards out for a hole-in-one. The junior finished the day two over par (74) to lead the Golden Flashes.
Second round action gets underway on Friday, May 6 at 8:00 a.m. (ET) with a split-tee start from holes one and 10. The Pirates will start on the 10th tee at 8:55 a.m.
