Oct. 24, 2008

AUBURN, Ala. – With inclement weather pushing back tee times by a couple of hours, the Auburn University Club course got the better of most teams, including the Gamecock women’s team. South Carolina is tied for ninth place after shooting an opening round 310 (+22) to draw even with Florida State and Central Florida after one round of play.

Junior Taylor Barrett led the way for the Gamecocks with a 4-over 76. With the shotgun start, she began play with back-to-back bogeys at holes 17 and 18, then had three more bogeys on the first seven holes of the front side. But a birdie at the eighth turned her fortunes around and kept her bogey-free through her final nine holes en route to a tie for 25th place after one round.

Senior Meredith Taylor and junior Benedicte Toumpsin shot matching 77s (+5) to stand tied for 32nd heading into Saturday’s second round. Taylor had five bogeys through her first 14 holes, but rebounded nicely with a pair of birdies at 13 and 14 (her 16th and 17th holes of the day). But her final hole erased the two previous birdies as a double bogey left her at 5-over. Toumpsin had a string of four consecutive bogeys on the front nine, but a birdie at the eighth offset a bogey at the ninth to keep her at even par through her final nine holes.

Freshman Katie Burnett played a fairly consistent round, but one bad hole turned an otherwise decent round into an 80 (+8). She stands tied for 54th through one round.

Corrine Carr, the junior transfer from Furman, had a pair of birdies on the day, but a rough stretch of holes left her with an 81 (+9) and a tie for 60th. Cayci Ruppe, playing as an individual in her first collegiate tournament, will look for improvement Saturday after an 84 (+12).

Virginia holds the team lead through one round with a stellar 289 (+1). Alabama, which led for much of the afternoon, ran into trouble late in the day and fell to second place at six-over. Host Auburn is third at 10-over.

Much of the reason for UVA’s lead is the outstanding play of Whitney Neuhauser, who holds the individual lead after one round. The 25th-ranked player in the nation, Neuhauser fired a 69 (-3) to carry a one-shot lead into Saturday’s second round. A three-way tie for second exists with Jackie Hilea (Furman), Anna Nordqvist (Arizona State) and Brooke Pancake (Alabama) all at 2-under.

South Carolina will tee off in the first group of the day, beginning at 8:30 a.m. Central (9:30 Eastern) off the No. 1 tee. Live scoring is available through golfstat.com.