WEST POINT — Windy conditions made things that much tougher at Old Waverly Golf Club during the first two rounds of The Ally, the lone home tournament of the year for Mississippi State women’s golf.
With a field of four top-45 teams, including the Bulldogs, a chance at a third-straight team championship during their fall schedule wasn’t going to be easy and that was definitely the case on Monday.
Mississippi State sits third overall in the team competition at plus-15, 18 shots back of the overall leader, SMU, who at one point in the day was 8-under as a team.
The Mustangs are the lone team to have finished the first two rounds under par, with Ole Miss just six strokes behind them at 3-over.
Mississippi State had its chances to claw its way back into the tournament, but down the stretch in the first round, the Bulldogs came up short.
MSU’s best golfer this season, Julia Lopez Ramirez, ended up shooting 3-over overall: 2-over in the first round and 1-over in the second.
The 12th hole was her nemesis on the day, hitting a costly shot into the water in the first round that resulted in an eventual bogey, and an even rougher situation in Round 2 that ended up with her shooting double bogey on the hole.
Ramirez and teammate Abbey Daniel both had top-15 individual finishes on the day, with Daniel shooting 4-over on the day, tied for 12th and Ramirez alone in 11th.
Bulldog senior Hannah Levi, at one point shooting under-par golf in the first round, ended up shooting plus-4 combined on the par-5 15th over the first two rounds.
Finishing with a triple bogey in Round 1 killed momentum as she ended up shooting 9-over on the day.
Some good news for Tuesday were the second-round performances from Izzy Pellot and Ashley Gilliam. Pellot shot two-under in Round 2 for an overall Day 1 finish of 7-over, while Gilliam shot one-over in the second to finish at 6-over after Day 1.
Pellot’s 2-under round was the lone under-par round during team competition for the Bulldogs, who will be paired up with SMU and Ole Miss tomorrow as they look to make a final-day comeback.
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