Grace Na's 63: All Fairways And Greens Hit!
/I admit to my alma mater bias, but as Julie Williams goes through Grace Na's NCAA record-tying 63 Monday at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown, it's hard not to be impressed.
Starting on No. 10, Na birdied Nos. 11, 12, 13, 16 and 17. After the turn, she continued her streak with birdies at Nos. 1, 2 and 3, and added a ninth and final one at the par-4 fifth. After hitting the par-5 ninth in two by accident (Na thinks she focused her range finder on a tree behind the green, and thus landed her approach shot on the green before the group ahead of her had cleared), she three-putted from 40 feet to stay at 9 under. Na leads San Diego State's Christine Wong by four shots.
And these stats along with the humility:
Na, who graduated high school a semester early to join the Wave team last spring, calls the day a boring one, and it’s justified by her stats. She hit every fairway and green, and stuck 12 of her approach shots to inside 15 feet. She had 28 putts on the day.
“This course is very scoreable, but because it seems so scoreable, a lot of people lose focus on course management,” Na said. Boulder Creek can play especially tough when the wind is blowing, but Na took advantage of Monday’s calm conditions.