Women's Golf Leads at American Championships

Monday, April 18

Palm Coast, Fla. (Hammock Beach Golf & Spa Resort)

All Day

University of Houston

The American Championships

4/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf

April 18, 2016

Live Scoring \| Second-Round Results Final-Round Pairings \| Schedule

Team		Rounds				Score
		1	2	3	F
1.	#28 Houston	319	285		604	+28
2.	USF	311	298		609	+33
3.	#32 East Carolina	309	301		610	+34
4.	#29 SMU	311	302		613	+37
5.	Memphis	309	307		616	+40
6.	UCF	311	309		620	+44
7.	#44 Tulane	321	305		626	+50
8.	Cincinnati	316	313		629	+53
9.	Tulsa	329	316		645	+69

HOUSTON LEADERS
		1	2	3	F
t7.	Leonie Harm	82	69		151	+7
t7.	Megan Thothong	80	71		151	+7
t12.	Yuka Kajiki	77	75		152	+8
t18.	Raegan Bremer	85	70		155	+11
t18.	Emily Gilbreth	70	75		155	+11

OVERALL LEADERS
		1	2	3	F
1.	#47 Ashley Holder UCF	75	70		145	+1
2.	#72 Jenny Haglund SMU	76	70		146	+2
3.	Nicole Autrique USF	74	73		147	+3
4.	#8 F. Gustafsson Spang East Carolina	71	77		148	+4
t5.	Leighann Cabush Memphis	76	74		150	+6
t5.	Nico Engstroem Skaug East Carolina	76	74		150	+6

PALM COAST, Fla. Ã¢â‚¬" Bettering its First-Round score by 34 strokes, the University of Houston Women's Golf program set a school record and moved up six places into first place following the Second Round of the American Athletic Conference Championships on Monday.

After posting a disappointing team score of 319 in Sunday's First Round, the Cougars enjoyed a team-score of 3-under-par 285 Monday on the 6,225-yard, par-72 Ocean Course at Hammock Beach Resort and Golf Club. Every Cougar in the starting lineup recorded at least a 2-stroke improvement from Sunday's round with each finishing the second day among the tournament's top-17 leaders.

It ranked as the biggest round-to-round improvement in school history, topping the previous record of 21 strokes from the Second Round (301) to the Final Round (280) of the Alamo Invitational at Briggs Ranch Golf Club in San Antonio, Texas, on Oct. 26-28, 2014.

The Cougars finished the second day with a team score of 604 to stand five strokes ahead of USF. No. 32 East Carolina (610), No. 29 SMU (613), Memphis (616), UCF (620), No. 44 Tulane (626), Cincinnati (629) and Tulsa (645) rounded out the field.

Making her American Athletic Conference Championships debut, freshman Leonie Harm posted Houston's lowest score of the day with a bogey-free 69. Starting her day on No. 1, the Gerlingen, Germany, native opened the Second Round with a birdie and added another birdie on the 496-yard, par-5 sixth hole.

Harm drained nine consecutive pars before sinking her final birdie of the day on the par-4 16th hole and finished the Second Round in a tie for seventh at 151.

Sophomore Megan Thothong enjoyed a 9-stroke improvement with a 71 in Tuesday's round. The Dallas native sank a pair of birdies with only one bogey to join Harm in a tie for seventh at 151.

Sophomore Yuka Kajiki was tied for 12th at 152, while senior and two-time All-American Athletic Conference honoree Raegan Bremer showed the team's biggest improvement after lowering her first-day score by 16 shots. The Anaheim Hills, Calif., native recorded four birdies on the way to a 70 in Monday's round and was tied for 18th at 155.

Sophomore Emily Gilbreth was tied for 18th at 155.

UCF's Ashley Holder held the individual lead at 145 to finish one stroke ahead of Jenny Haglund of SMU. USF's Nicole Autrique stood in third at 147 with East Carolina's F. Gustafsson Spang in fourth at 148. Memphis Leigann Cabush and Nico Engstroem Skaug were tied for fifth at 150.

FINAL-ROUND PAIRINGS
Tuesday's Final Round begins with a 7 a.m. (CDT) shotgun start. The Cougars will compete in threesomes with student-athletes from USF and East Carolina, starting off No. 1.

Admission is free and open to the public.

Gilbreth will begin Tuesday's round at 7:50 a.m. (CDT) with Bremer (8 a.m. CDT), Kajiki (8:10 a.m. CDT), Thothong (8:20 a.m. CDT) and Harm (8:30 a.m. CDT) following.

Fans can follow live scoring by visiting Golfstat.com and following the appropriate links or by clicking here. For more information about the 2016 American Athletic Women's Golf Championship, fans can visit Championship Central and view the 2016 Championships program by clicking here.

AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
This marks the third consecutive season the Cougars will play in The American Championship and their second straight season competing as a team.

In 2015, the Cougars finished third with a team score of 878 , and Kajiki led the Cougars at 2-under-par 214 to tie for third.

UP NEXT
Following the Clemson Invitational, the Cougars enter the postseason when they play at the American Athletic Conference Championships on April 17-19 at Hammock Beach Resort & Golf Club in Palm Coast, Fla.

From there, the Cougars hope to compete in the NCAA Regionals, beginning May 5-7 at a site to be determined.

STAY CONNECTED
Fans can receive updates by following @UHCougarWGolf on Twitter and catch up with the latest news and notes on the team by clicking LIKE on the team's Facebook page at HoustonCougarWomensGolf.