Balanced Badgers in third place through 18 holes of Cardinal Cup

Sunday, October 23

U of Louisville Golf Course, Louisville, KY

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Cardinal Cup

Balanced Badgers in third place through 18 holes of Cardinal Cup

October 23, 2016 | Women's Golf

Ferrell, Zeng lead UW in windy first round

SIMPSONVILLE, Ky. -- Up against adverse conditions on a notoriously tough course, the Wisconsin women's golf team rose to the occasion with a well-balanced performance to sit in third place after the first day of the Cardinal Cup at the University of Louisville Golf Club.

Wisconsin ended the day at 15-over, just one two strokes off leader Florida State and one behind Kentucky.

"We played pretty solid overall," UW head coach Todd Oehrlein said. "It was a really difficult day to score out there. Long golf course, really fast greens and windy conditions made for some higher scores but we're in good position. I thought we were pretty patient out there and showed maturity and composure."

Leading the Badgers were senior Brooke Ferrell and sophomore Nat Zeng, who both shot a 3-over 75 to sit in a tie for seventh place. Junior Gabby Curtis finished one stroke behind to be tied for 13th while junior Becky Klongland's 5-over 77 puts her in a tie for 18th place. At 12-over, senior Michelle Cheung is tied for 77th place.

Junior Ali Nageotte, who is competing as an individual, is tied for 76th after finishing the day at 11-over.

"When you're on a hard golf course and have tough scoring conditions, you face adversity and challenges out there where you can have bad stretches but we never really lost our focus in those moments," Oehrlein said. "Consequently, we played and battled pretty hard so we really did a nice job competing."

In team standings, Illinois (+17) is two strokes behind UW for fourth place while Louisville (+18) enters the second round in fifth place. Cinncinatti (+23), East Carolina (+23), Virginia Tech (+24), Maryland (+27) and Middle Tennessee (+30) round out the top ten of the 17-team field.

The second round of the Cardinal Cup tees off on Monday at 9 a.m. and Tuesday's final round will begin at 8:30 a.m. with a shotgun start. Live scoring can be found at golfstat.com.