Cathryn Brown arrived at Blessings Golf Club in Athens, Georgia, on Thursday and shot a 71 — one under par, good enough for a share of 18th place after the opening round of the NCAA Women's Golf Championship.
The result put the University of Kentucky sophomore in a position she has not occupied before: inside the cut line at a national tournament, with two rounds remaining to climb the leaderboard. Thirty-two teams and 156 individuals are competing this week. The top 15 individuals who are not on advancing teams qualify for the individual championship bracket on Sunday.
Brown's round included four birdies and three bogeys, with the back nine proving more productive than the front. Her birdie on the par-5 15th hole, a gap wedge from 97 yards that stopped four feet from the pin, was the day's signature shot. She three-putted the 17th for her final bogey but steadied on the closing hole to finish at one under.
Kentucky head coach Golda Borst said Brown's preparation for the course — Blessings is one of the longer and more technically demanding layouts on the NCAA schedule — had been meticulous. "She's been working on her iron distances all spring," Borst said. "Today you saw why."
The Wildcats as a team sit at three over par as a unit, placing them 18th of the 24 competing teams. The top eight teams advance to match play on Friday. Kentucky's path to team advancement is narrow, but Brown's individual position remains strong.
Second-round tee times begin at 7:30 a.m. Friday morning.