ST. GEORGE, Utah – Casey Danielson was 3-over par through the first two holes of the NCAA St. George Regional Championships, but battled back with a 1-under on the back nine while shooting a 1-over 72 to pace the Stanford women’s golf team on Thursday.
Danielson, who is tied for fourth with a round that included three birdies, is one of three Cardinal performers in the top 20. Lauren Kim and Shannon Aubert each finished at 4-over to share 16th place.
Kim and Aubert took different paths for their scores. Kim was 1-under through 11 and bogeyed five of her final seven holes. Aubert was up and down with three birdies and seven bogeys throughout her opening round.
Stanford teamed to shoot a 20-over 304 on the par-71 layout of Entrada at Snow Canyon. That score left the Cardinal in fifth place among the 18-team field. The top six teams will advance to the NCAA Championships, and two rounds are left to be contested in the event.
USC is in first place after the first round and five strokes ahead of second-place California (+9). Throughout the first round, Cal, Arkansas and UNLV battled for second place, with the three teams tying at one point. At the end of the round, UNLV is in third (+17) and Wisconsin is in fourth (+19), while Arkansas dropped to seventh (+22).
Pauline Loulier from Cal is first among individuals. She shot 3-under 68.
Mariah Stackhouse went without a birdie during her round of 83. Quirine Eijkenboom knocked in a pair of birdies while posting an 82.
The regional championships will continue with the second round at 7 a.m. (PT) Friday with live results available at GoStanford.com.