Colorado University Athletics
Kerr Improves To 44th
May 09, 2003 | Women's Golf
Tempe, Ariz. - Erin Kerr battled late afternoon winds to match her first round effort 77 and improve to 44th with a 36-hole 154 and remain the individual leader and in the hunt for one of two individual bids to the NCAA Championships here in Friday's second round of the NCAA West Regional.
Winds picked up on the Karsten Golf Course Thursday, giving the late-morning and afternoon threesomes challenges they didn't face Thursday.
"It was really windy and the greens were dry and hard," said Kerr. "I started out okay (going 2-over on her front nine), but the last 10 holes were really hard. But the whole field suffered."
While today's scores were all higher, UNLV's Sunny Oh continues to pace the field and has a two-round 6-under-par 138 heading into Wednesday's final loop. She is three strokes ahead of Southern Cal's Tanya Dergal (141), who was in third after Monday's first round. USC continues to maintain the lead in the team race.
Kerr, who leads individual player UC-Irvine's Stella Lee (78-79-157) and Idaho's Nicole Keller (78-81-159), who edged Kerr in a playoff in October for the Heather Farr Memorial title in Superior, had to also overcome a tough day off the tee box.
"I just hit it in the right spot today. My driver wasn't working, so I hit a lot of irons and only had 30 putts, which helped doesn't hurt. Then I had two great up and downs for par on the last two holes which helped a lot."
The third and final round will be decided Saturday, with Kerr teeing off again at 11:30 a.m. Should Kerr surge as one of the top two individuals not represented on one of eight NCAA Championship qualifying teams, her season will extend late into the month at the NCAA Championships in West Lafayette, Ind. A year ago in Stanford, Calif., the then-junior fell three strokes shy of advancing to the program's first NCAA Championship round as the third individual, 12th overall.
"She's not out of it. She's still got a chance," said head coach Anne Kelly. "She's got to shoot low tomorrow, but it's hard not knowing which teams are going to get in."
"Realistically, I'm going to have to shoot mid 60s tomorrow to give myself a descent chance, seconded Kerr. "But it depends on the weather again. If the winds, and the scores, pick up again and I play well, it will give me a better shot."
NCAA WEST REGIONAL (Tempe, Ariz.)
COLORADO PLAYERS ONLY
t-44. Erin Kerr...... 77-77- 154
