American Conference/ Ben Solomon

Golf

Houston's Harm Sits in Tie for Seventh After Round 1 of NCAA Championship

STILLWATER, Okla. – Houston junior Leonie Harm sits in a tie for seventh at the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship following a round of a 1-under par 71 at the Karsten Creek Golf Club.

Starting on the 10th hole to open the championship, Harm tallied three birdies against two bogeys on the par-72, 6,328-yard course. A birdie on the 18th hole evened Harm's first nine, and the junior moved to 2-under with birdies on the par-4 fourth hole and par-3 seventh. A bogey at No. 8 and par on the par-5 9th closed Harm's opening round.

Among individual qualifiers for the championship, Harm sits third. Harm is just one of 10 players who recorded an under-par round on the challeging Karsten Creek layout and trails the leader, Wake Forest's Jennifer Kupcho, by six strokes entering Saturday's second round.

Harm, the 2018 American Athletic Conference Player of the Year, earned her place in the nation’s premier collegiate event with a record-setting performance in the NCAA Austin Regional Final Round on May 9.

The Gerlingen, Germany, native drained six birdies with an eagle during the final 18 holes on the way to a school-record 65 to move into a three-woman playoff for the final two individual spots out of the Austin Regional. After nearly two extra hours of play, Harm clinched her place with a par on the seventh playoff hole.

Harm, who stands at No. 32 in the latest Golfstat individual rankings, leads the Cougars in 2017-18 with a 72.71 scoring average and 16 rounds of par or better. She has earned Top-7 finishes in each of her last four tournaments, including a second-place showing at the LSU Tiger Classic on March 23-25.

Harm first competed at the NCAA Championships in 2016. She is the Cougars’ career leader in stroke average at 73.04 and holds the school single-season record with a 72.70 mark in 2016-17. Harm became only the second student-athlete in program history to compete in 3+ NCAA Regionals during her career.

All teams and individuals will compete in 54 holes of stroke play, beginning Friday through Sunday.

From there, the Top-15 teams and nine individuals not on an advancing team will compete in the final 18 holes of stroke play on Monday to determine the NCAA individual national champion and the Top-8 teams that will advance to match play.

Fans can follow live scoring from the NCAA Championships by visiting Golfstat.com.