The No. 9 University of Arkansas women’s golf team fired a second consecutive 8-under 280 and added a stroke to its lead at the NCAA Las Vegas Regional on Tuesday.
Junior Kendal Todd, a former UNLV golfer, shot a 66 on one of her former home courses to join Arkansas teammates Kajal Mistry and Maria Jose Marin in the top five at the 6,665-yard Spanish Trail Country Club course 6 miles from the Vegas Strip.
The Razorbacks, who got eagles from Marin and sophomore Reagan Zibilski, tied sixth seed Purdue for the day’s best round and lead the Boilermakers (12 under) by four shots heading into the final round Wednesday.
“I’d love to get a third day of an 8 under,” Arkansas Coach Shauna Taylor said. “Again, I think an absolute team effort.”
Top seed and No. 4 UCLA carded a 5 under and sits in third place at 2 under. No. 19 Florida State (1 under), the regional’s fourth seed, is also under par, followed by Baylor (2 over), second-seed Arizona (5 over), Oklahoma (5 over) and California (14 over) in the top eight.
The top five finishers in the six NCAA regionals will comprise the 30-team field for the NCAA Championships on May 17-22 in Carlsbad, Calif.
Colorado State is in ninth place at 16 over, followed by Kent State (18 over), Dartmouth (35 over) and Xavier (36 over).
Florida State sophomore Lottie Woad, the ACC player of the year and winner of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last month, shot 5-under 67 to take the lead by a stroke over Mistry, who shot 3 under Tuesday.
UCLA’s Zoe Campos had the day’s best round with a 65 to reach 7 under and third place. Marin and Todd are tied at 5 under.
Mistry, the first-round leader, had four birdies Tuesday and carded her first bogey of the regional on the par-3 14th.
Marin opened her round with an eagle on the 365-yard first hole by holing a wedge from 86 yards then played the rest of her round at 1 over, with a birdie on the par-5 eighth countered by bogeys on 7 and 14.
Todd’s 66 featured four birdies on the front nine called “Canyon,” and three birdies on the “Lakes” back nine offset by only one bogey on 7.
“I can’t say enough about Kendall Todd today,” Taylor said. “She made some amazing clutch putts and she scrambled when she needed to scramble. It was a pleasure to watch. Then Kajal, great job again playing in the 1 spot for us. … [Marin] eagling her first hole and kind of holding it steady coming in. Just across the board, great teamwork.
“We’ve got one more day to go on this business trip and hopefully put ourselves in a good position.”
Arkansas senior Miriam Ayora had the final counting score with a 2-over 74 that featured three birdies and five bogeys. She is in a tie for 25th place.
Zibilski had an adventurous round of 76 capped by her 10-foot eagle putt on the 510-yard 18th after she carded five bogeys, a double bogey and one birdie on the first 17 holes. Zibilski is tied for 44th place.
The Razorbacks will tee off on No. 1 at 10 a.m. Central in the final round Wednesday with Purdue and UCLA.
