PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. – Stanford combined for a 5-under par score of 279 to charge into the second-round lead Monday at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge at Palos Verdes Golf Club. The Cardinal improved 16 shots from Sunday's opening round and posted the lowest total of the day by 10 strokes.
No. 5 Stanford has a 36-hole score of 6-over 574, six shots ahead of UCLA in the elite, 16-team field. The final round will be contested Tuesday.
Three Cardinal players reside inside the top-6, headed by junior Andrea Lee. Lee, who grew about eight miles up the coast in Hermosa Beach, fashioned five birdies and a second straight 1-under 70 and has a two-round tally of 2-under 140. She finished third in last year's event and will seek her seventh collegiate win.
Junior Albane Valenzuela continued her strong play with an even-par 71 and is tied for sixth at 2-over 144. She had five birdies and three bogeys.
Sophomore Mika Liu and junior Ziyi Wang made key contributions, sharing team scoring honors with 2-under 69s, one off their career bests. Each made six birdies.
Liu is tied with Valenzuela at 144, while Wang is knotted for 14th at 4-over 146. Sophomore Kelsey Zeng is tied for 79th.
Stanford's last team victory came in late October at the prestigious East Lake Cup in Atlanta against a four-team field comprised of 2018 NCAA semifinalists. Its last full-field triumph came at the 2018 NCAA Harding Park Regional in San Francisco.
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