Arizona leads Windy City Collegiate after 36-hole day

WILMETTE, Ill. (Oct. 1, 2018) – After a long 36-hole day at the Windy City Collegiate, defending national champion Arizona is on top. The Wildcats appeared in the Chicago suburbs with four of the five players on last year’s title team.

Arizona posted consistent rounds of 1-over 289 and 2-under 286 during the first day at Westmoreland Country Club. The team was third after the first round, but collected 12 birdies on the back nine of the afternoon round to finish in the lead, one shot ahead of USC.

Haley Moore birdied her final two holes to post 4-under on her second nine and card a 71 on the round, which put the Wildcats ahead by one. Moore had rebounded from a morning 77.

Senior Bianca Pagdanganan, however, led the charge with back-to-back rounds of 71. At 2-under 142, she is tied for sixth. Junior Sandra Nordaas is 1 under (71-72) and tied for eighth. Meanwhile, in her Wildcat debut, freshman Ya-Chun Chang contributed rounds of 73-72.

USC is even par, and Arizona State is right behind that at 1 over. The leaderboard drops off from there, with Florida and Duke tied for fourth at 9 over.

USC’s Gabriela Ruffels leads the individual race at 9 under after rounds of 69-66. She is one ahead of Arizona State’s Raquel Olmos, whose second-round 66 included a hole-in-one at the 165-yard 13th hole.