Saturday is known in golf parlance as “moving day,” the preferable moment to vault up the leaderboard and take a stab at first place on Sunday.
The North Carolina women’s golf team certainly moved today at the ACC Championship in Greensboro.
Just in the wrong direction.
No. 11 UNC slid further from the top of the field, shooting 25-over-par Saturday. The Tar Heels — now 49-over-par through two of three rounds — sit in sixth place, 32 shots behind leader No. 3 Duke.
Sedgefield Country Club, the annual host of the ACC Championship, has been rather unforgiving to the Tar Heels, littering their scorecards with bogeys and dashing their hopes of challenging for the conference title.
After earning a share of second place through 18 holes, freshman Elizabeth Mallett tumbled down the individual leaderboard with an 11-over-par 82. Junior Katherine Perry posted her team’s low score of the round, a three-over-par 74 that put her in 15th place.
Junior Casey Grice followed up her first-round 79 with a five-over-par 76. Grice assuredly was looking for a stronger performance this weekend, both for the sake of her team and as a tune-up for her appearance at the North Texas LPGA Shootout Apr. 25.
The tail end of the Tar Heels’ top five is also languishing on the unsympathetic Greensboro layout. Coach Jan Mann tapped sophomore Maia Schechter over senior Courtney Gunter for the conference tournament after both players vied for the Tar Heels’ final spot. Schechter carded an 89 today and sits near the leaderboard’s cellar in 43rd place.
The Tar Heels will need a herculean effort in Sunday’s final round after their team-wide stumble Friday and Saturday. An outstanding second round could have alleviated the gargantuan task that now lies before them.
Instead, they’ll have to hope that Sunday is designated as this weekend’s moving day.
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