Junior Josephine Chang capped the best weekend of her collegiate career with silver medalist honors at the Colonel Classic while senior Leonie Bettel tried to move the Kentucky women’s golf team up the team leaderboard at the Bryan National Collegiate on Saturday.
Chang tied for second place at the University Club at Arlington (5,885 yards, par 72) on Saturday as one of three UK individuals playing in the Colonel Classic in Richmond, Kentucky. The other five Wildcats are at the Bryan Park Champions Golf Course (par 72, 6,305 yards) this weekend for the Bryan National Collegiate.
Despite an early surge from 2018-19 three-time champion Bettel early in the day, UK was unable to make up ground on a talented field that includes two top-25 teams (Golfstat rankings) and four others in the top 50. Kentucky carded a 306 on Saturday and is tied for 13th place at 35-over par heading into Sunday’s final 18 holes.
No. 12 Wake Forest, co-host of the tournament with UNC Greensboro, stretched its lead to 16 strokes at 20-under par. Two Demon Deacons lead the individual field at 8-under par.
Live scoring will continue Sunday at the Bryan at 8:30 a.m. on GolfStat.com.
“I was excited to get this round started,” said UK assistant coach Brian May, who is filling in for head coach Golda Borst this week. “Our girls had a different kind of determination to start the round today and it showed early on. We looked pretty good for about 12 holes today. Unfortunately our frustration started to build on our back nine holes and the girls started to press a bit. Golf is a mental grind for 18 holes, and the last six got the best of us. We have one round tomorrow to try and build on the good things that we have been doing well and be a bit tougher when thing s aren’t going our way.”
Despite a difficult day on the course in North Carolina, Chang finished off the best three-round stretch of her career at even par at the Colonel Classic. The 216 set a new 54-hole career best.
Chang started the day with a one-shot lead but with plenty of competitors just behind her. The competition was ready to strike when Chang double bogeyed the par 5 No. 2 and followed with four bogeys over a five-hole stretch.
It could have doomed Chang, but she fought back and fought her way back to second with two birdies and seven pars over her final nine holes to finish in a four-way tie for second. Eastern Kentucky’s Elsa Moberly, playing on her home course, won the Colonel Classic at 4-under par.
Also in the Colonel Classic, sophomore notched her second career top-20 finish in a tie for 18th with a score of 11-over par. Freshman Ryan Bender tied for 38th at 18-over par.
“Proud of the girls at home for battling this week at the EKU spring event,” May said. “Josephine got off to a rough start but settled in and played her last nine holes in 1-under par. A second-place finish there will help build her confidence as we come down to a very important finish to our regular season.”
Bettel was trying to make her move and get back in contention for a possible fourth individual championship this season after winning her third two weeks ago at the Clover Cup. For the second day in a row Bettel had it going on her first nine holes of the day. She posted four back-nine birdies (she started on No. 10), but the front nine also foiled her for a second consecutive round as she finished Saturday at 2-over par and 6-over for the tournament. She leads UK to this point in a tie for 36th.
Junior Sarah Shipley is a stroke behind at 7-over par and in a tied for 43rd. She carded a 75 Saturday with two birdies.
Senior Claire Carlin entered the day tied for 25th but dropped down to 53rd at 9-over par with a 79 in the second round. Sophomore Rikke Svejgård Nielsen is tied for 83rd at 16-over par, and sophomore Casey Ott is tied for 93rd at 21-over par.
Kentucky is making its fourth appearance in the last five seasons at the Bryan with past success. UK finished in sixth place in 2015 and tied for fifth in 2016. Bettel tied for sixth on the individual leaderboard last season, one of her now-nine career top-10 finishes.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s golf team, follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
