Vakasiuola keeps pace, in striking distance of indy title

Courtesy of Grand Canyon Athletics

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – It wasn’t about the start of freshman Alexis Vakasiuola’s second round at the NCAA Regional in Ann Arbor, but rather the finish.

In day two at the University of Michigan Golf Course, the first-year golfer who is trying to become the first Lope to ever compete at the NCAA D-I National Championship Tournament, bogeyed her first three holes and four of her first five.

Yet, Vakasiuola leads the entire 66 player field in birdies with 10, tallying three in a row between holes 6-8 and added one more for good measure on No. 17 to leave the course 1 over through 36 total holes.
That score is tied for 11th among the entire field and is just two shots back of UCF’s One Kashima and Minnesota’s Isabella McCauley for the individual title.

The individual title winner is the best player in the field after 54 holes who is not a part of the five advancing teams. After two rounds played, Vakasiuola is right in the mix to keep her season going May 22-27 in Carlsbad.

Like Monday’s first round, Vakasiuola’s opening hole started with a bogey with a proceeding two more bogeys on holes 2 and 3. After four bogeys through her first five holes, all the San Tan Valley native needed was one birdie to fight off the nerves and get her rhythm back.

She chipped to about five feet on the par 4, 6th, and sank a birdie putt. She did the exact same thing on the par 4, 7th, and put a tee shot within eight feet on the par 3, 8th, drilling both birdie putts to flip her scorecard from 4 over to 1 over on the round.

From there, Vakasiuola played par golf. Over her last 10 holes, she notched eight pars to one bogey and a birdie. She was paired with Michigan’s Lauren Sung for the second consecutive day and McCauley from Minnesota, who had the best second round score of all golfers at 4 under. Vakasiuola started to match McCauley’s scores on the back nine, leading to her to a confidence building finish after 18.

Vakasiuola has a tournament best 10 birdies for the week, one more than overall leader Ashley Yun of Northwestern. While she struggled on par 5 holes today, she is tied for first in par 3 scoring at 2.88.

One last round remains in Ann Arbor tomorrow morning, with weather seemingly looming as high winds and light rain are in the forecast. Vakasiuola will start at 9:50 AM EST/6:50 AM PT on hole one with McCauley and her Minnesota teammate Mariana Mesones.