BOULDER CITY, Nev. – Rutgers women's golf sits in first place at the Jackrabbit Invitational after it carded the lowest 18 and 36-hole team totals in program history on Monday in Boulder City, Nevada. Junior
Anna-Maria Diederichs leads the 91-player field with her six-under-par scorecard heading into Tuesday's final round at the Boulder Creek Golf Club.
The Scarlet Knights fired off a nine-under-par 279 in the second round, two strokes better than the previous program standard of 281 secured at the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational during the 2019-20 season. RU leads the 16-team field with an even 576 (297-279) - also a program record - and is three strokes ahead of host South Dakota State (+3) and five strokes ahead of Middle Tennessee State (+5). With her six-under-par 138 (72-66), Diederichs is four strokes ahead of SDSU's Hester Sticking (-2) and six strokes ahead of five other individuals.
"This was a nice team performance for us today," said head coach
Kari Williams. "We really got after our scoring chances in the afternoon. On this course in the windy and dry conditions, it was important for the team to play the game and to manage themselves around the course.
"Anna-Maria has worked hard to get healthy and back to competing. Our record-setting day was a nice way to welcome her back. The team bounced back well in the afternoon and it was great to have everyone contribute to our team score today. We're looking forward to the challenge of round three tomorrow."
Diederichs, who is competing in her first tournament of the 2021-22 season since she suffered an injury this past fall, rolled in a tournament-low 66 in the second round on Monday night. Diederichs was bogey-free during her final 18 holes with birdies on holes two, seven, eight, nine, 11 and 14. Diederichs opened the tournament with an even 72, as she added two birdies and an eagle on a par five during the morning session.
"It felt good to be back on the course competing with the team," Diederichs said. "My game was steady today without many mistakes. My approach shots were close and I reached a lot of the par 5s in two which helped me score low. Today was a lot of fun and we're excited to finish strong tomorrow."
Junior
Leigha Devine and sophomore
Rikke Nordvik also came in under par during the second round. Devine is tied for seventh after her two-under-par 70, while Nordvik is tied for 17th after her one-under-par 71. Devine birdied holes seven, nine, 11 and 14 and Nordvik followed with four birdies of her own. Along with rookie
Lucrezia Rossettin, who is tied for 20th, Rutgers has four individuals within the top 20 of the individual leaderboard with one round to play.
Senior captain
Maeve Rossi is tied for 26th to round out the team scorecard.
RU also brought an additional four individuals to compete as another team at the tournament. Junior
Sun Hwang carded a two-under-par 34 on the back nine during the second round and is tied for 36th to lead the secondary unit.
Tomorrow's final round begins at 11 a.m. ET with a shotgun start.
Day One Results - Jackrabbit Invitational
Day One Results - Jackrabbit Invitational
