April 2, 2016
Kelli Murphy won her match to help the Tigers to a victory over Arkansas Saturday.
ATHENS, Ga. ÃÆ'Æ'¢ÃƒÆ'¢'¬" The Auburn women's golf team picked up a match-play victory over No. 7 Arkansas to highlight day two at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic on Saturday.
Auburn and Arkansas were even in overall score, 2.5-2.5, but the Tigers claimed the tiebreaker by virtue of total margin of victory. In the other match Saturday, Auburn fell to No. 1 Duke, 5-0.
In the morning match, the Tigers claimed a pair of match victories as Kelli Murphy and Michaela Owen never trailed while closing out their opponents in fewer than 18 holes. Murphy won her first hole with a birdie, then made four straight pars to move 3-up on Arkansas' Summar Roachell through five holes. Roachell won three straight to square the match through nine holes, but Murphy would fight back with four straight wins to move 4-up with five to play. Roachell won the next hole, but Murphy would get halves on the next two to take a 3 and 2 victory.
Owen also never trailed, making birdie on her first hole and two more birdies on her first nine to take a 3-up lead at the turn. Arkansas' Regina Plasencia won the 12th hole to cut Owen's lead to 2-up, but a pair of pars at the 14th and 15th holes of the day coupled with an Arkansas bogey and double-bogey gave Owen the win after 15 holes, 4 and 3.
Alex Harrell forced a halve with Arkansas' Maria Fassi after a back-and-forth match. Harrell made a pair of birdies on the first nine and was 2-up through seven, but Fassi won the next two holes to square the match through nine. Fassi went 1-up when Harrell bogeyed the 11th hole of the day, but Harrell won the next two holes to flip the score 1-up in her favor. Wins at 16 and 17 for Fassi made the Arkansas freshman dormie with one to play, but Harrell made par and Fassi bogeyed to secure the halve.
Arkansas' Alana Uriell defeated Auburn's Mai Dechathipat, and the Razorbacks' Cara Gorlei defeated Auburn's Jamie Yun by identical scores of 3 and 2. Owen's 4-and-3 win proved to be the difference as the Tigers claimed the tiebreaker, which was total number of holes up.
In the second match, Owen, Yun and Harrell all had close matches but came up just short. Owen fought back from a two-hole deficit to square the match after 11 holes, then after falling behind again, got a win at 16 to get within one with two holes to play. She would fall, 1-down, after halves at the final two holes. Yun was all square with Duke's Sandy Choi through 15, but Choi got wins at 16 and 17 to claim a 2-and-1 victory. And Harrell found herself 4-down through eight holes, but she would not lose a hole the rest of the way. Three birdies on the back nine helped her fight back to within two, but Duke's Celine Boutier held on for a 2-and-1 win.
Auburn will face Oregon State in the final match of the weekend Sunday morning. Tee time is set for 8:20 a.m. CT on the No. 10 tee at the UGA Golf Course. Live scoring is available at birdiefire.com.
Auburn 2.5, No. 7 Arkansas 2.5 (Auburn wins tiebreaker)
Alex Harrell (AU) vs. Maria Fassi (ARK), halved
Alana Uriell (ARK) def. Mai Dechathipat (AU), 3 and 2
Cara Gorlei (ARK) def. Jamie Yun (AU), 3 and 2
Kelli Murphy (AU) def. Summar Roachell (ARK), 3 and 2
Michaela Owen (AU) def. Regina Plasencia (ARK), 4 and 3
No. 1 Duke 5, Auburn 0
Gurbani Singh (DUKE) def. Michaela Owen (AU), 1 up
Virginia Elena Carta (DUKE) def. Kelli Murphy (AU), 5 and 4
Sandy Choi (DUKE) def. Jamie Yun (AU), 2 and 1
Lisa Maguire (DUKE) def. Mai Dechathipat (AU), 5 and 4
Celine Boutier (DUKE) def. Alex Harrell (AU), 2 and 1