Iqbal Shoots Even To Remain In National Finals Hunt
CLE ELUM, Wash. — Graduate senior Sabrina Iqbal shot an even-par 72 second round at the 2024 NCAA Women's Golf Cle Elum Regional on Tuesday to remain in striking distance of a national finals spot.
Iqbal's second-round performance at the Tumble Creek Club kept her at 5 over through 36 holes. She moved up 22 spots in the process and is in a six-way tie for 22nd place as a large portion of the golfers around her in the standings were over par for the day.
Sophomore Morgan Miller, Colorado's second individual in the field is tied with three others for 54th at 13-over 157.
Iqbal, playing in her fourth NCAA Regional, still has some work to do in Wednesday's final round, but a spot in the stroke play portion of the NCAA Championships, May 17-20 in Carlsbad, Calif., is not out of the question.
Only the low scoring individual, not on one of the six advancing teams, will make the finals at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa. At the moment, that spot would go to Lily Hirst of Kansas, who is at even-par 144 through two rounds, five strokes ahead of Iqbal. The Jayhawks are still in contention to advance as a team, currently as the first team out, in seventh place, just three shots off the cut line. Three individuals, including Hirst, with their teams currently outside the top six to advance, are ahead of Iqbal heading into Wednesday's finals.
Iqbal, who failed to make a birdie in the first round, made up for that with four on Tuesday. Three of those came on par 5s as she was 3 under on the long holes Tuesday. She was 1 under on the front before back-to-back bogeys at the turn dropped her to 1 over. She stayed there through 15 before birdies on the par 4 16th and par 5 18th, got her back to even for the round.
"Sabrina played very solid today in really cold windy conditions which we have had since we got here," Colorado head coach Anne Kelly said. "She's been hitting her driver very well and made some great up and downs today."
Miller, appearing in her first NCAA Regional, shot 7-over 79 in the second round highlighted by her lone birdie of the day at the 320-yard par 4 third. Miller was 1 over through seven, but started to fade at the turn, playing the final 11 holes at 6 over as she continues to battle back from a knee injury that kept her out of the Pac-12 Championship in April.
"Morgan is struggling a bit," Kelly said. "Still fighting that knee injury, but really gutting it out this week."
Miller and Iqbal are the fifth and sixth different Buffaloes to reach NCAA Regionals as individuals and first since Malak Bouraeda in 2021. It's the first time that Colorado has had two individuals advance to NCAA Regionals in the same season.
After playing the first two rounds together, the Buffaloes duo will play in separate groups in Wednesday's third round. Iqbal will play with Nebraska's Kelli Ann Strand, another individual, and San Francisco's Riana Mission beginning on the first tee at 11:50 a.m. MT. Miller will start her final round on the No. 10 tee with New Mexico State's Emma Bunch and Washington State's Madelyn Gamble at 11:50 a.m. MT.
Top-ranked Stanford took a commanding lead at 18-under 558, shooting 14 strokes better than the field on the day. First round leader, No. 11 Duke, is the only other team in the red at 6-under 570. No. 24 Virginia is in third at 9-over 585 with No. 13 Arizona State in fourth (+15, 591). No. 25 San Jose State and No. 76 Long Beach State are tied for the final two advancing spots at 19-over 595.
Stanford holds the top three spots in the individual race. Paula Martin Sampedro is the second-round leader at 8-under 136. Teammate Rachel Heck tied a course record with a 65 on Tuesday and is in second place a 7-under 137. Kelly Xu is third at 5-under 139.