Iqbal, Miller, Begin NCAA Regional Play In Cle Elum

CLE ELUM, Wash. — Graduate senior Sabrina Iqbal and sophomore Morgan Miller represented Colorado on the first day of the 2024 NCAA Women's Golf Cle Elum Regional at the Tumble Creek Club on Monday.
 
Playing as individuals, Iqbal shot 5-over 77 in the first round and is in a seven-way tie for 44th place. Miller was one shot back at 6-over 78 and tied with five others for 51st.
 
Monday's round leaves Iqbal and Miller well behind the pace for a berth in the NCAA Championship. Only the low scoring individual, not on one of the six advancing teams, qualifies for the stroke play portion of the NCAA Championship, May 17-20, at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. Through 18 holes, that spot would be claimed by another individual qualifier, Nebraska's Kelli Ann Strand, who is tied for fifth after shooting 2-under 70.
 
Scoring was tough to come by for the Buffaloes duo. Miller had the day's only birdie between the two, recording that at the 180-yard par 3 second.
 
Iqbal, playing in her fourth NCAA Regional, was 2 over through her first five holes and stayed there through 15 thanks to a string of 10-straight pars. She slipped back to 5 over with bogeys on each of her last three holes. Iqbal had a total of 13 pars on the day, tying for the eighth-best total in the field.
 
Miller, appearing in her first NCAA Regional, continues to battle back from a knee injury that kept her out of the Pac-12 Championship. She was 5 over through her first 10 holes before picking up her birdie at the second. Miller, who continues to chase Colorado's single-season stroke average record, dropped to 6 over with bogeys at the third and fifth before finishing the round with four-straight pars.
 
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.
 
The Buffaloes duo will tee off in Tuesday's second round along with Nebraska's Strand from the first tee at 11:50 a.m. MT.
 
No. 11 ranked Duke is the round one leader in the team competition with a 6-under 282, two strokes better than top ranked Stanford (-4, 284). The Blue Devils and Cardinal were the only teams in the red on the day. No. 13 Arizona State shot even-par 288, followed by No. 24 Virginia (+1, 289), No. 76 Long Beach State (+4, 292) and No. 49 Kansas (+6, 294) to round out the top six.
 
Duke's Anne Chen shot 5-under 67 for a one-stroke lead over Stanford's Paula Martin Sampedro and Kansas' Lily Hirst.