PROVIDENCE, R.I. – After two rounds of competition at the NCAA Women’s Golf Regionals, Houston’s Megan Thothong and SMU’s Brigitte Dunne are within striking distance of reaching the NCAA Championship, sitting in a tie for eight and sixteenth, respectively, at the Austin Regional.

The top three individuals not affiliated with the six advancing teams from the 18-team regional field will advance to the NCAA Championship, which takes place May 18-23 at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Oklahoma. 

At 2-under par, Thothong is five shots off of the individual lead, held by Texas A&M’s Maddie Szeryk. Dunne is a stroke behind at 1-under overall.
Currently, Arkansas leads the team leaderboard, followed by Texas and Florida. Baylor, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma and Texas A&M are all tied for fourth. Among individuals not affiliated with those teams, Thothong is tied for second, while Dunne is fourth or fifth, depending on which teams would currently  advance.

Thothong drained a pair of birdies in her Second Round and overcame two bogeys on her first three holes of the day. Following that start, the Dallas native sank eight straight pars before another bogey on No. 3. The 2018 All-American Athletic Conference performer rebounded with her second birdie on the 459-yard, par-5 fifth hole to enter the clubhouse in a tie for eighth.

Dunne followed up her first round 70 with a 1-over 73 to sit at 1-under par for the regional. Dunne posted three birdies on the front nine, going out at 2-under before three straight bogeys brought her into the clubhouse at 73.

Fellow Mustang Faith Summers sits in a tie for 70th in the 96-golfer field at 9-over after a 5-over second round.

At the Tallahassee Regional, UCF’s Kaeli Jones tallied an even-par 72 on the Don Veller Seminole Golf Course, climbing 12 spots on the leaderboard.
Jones opened the second round with birdies on two of her first five holes before a double bogey on the par-3 13^th brought her back to even on the day. Jones notched a birdie on No. 16 and a bogey on No. 17 to card an even-par 72 and move into a tie for 41^st overall.

On the team leaderboard, Houston bettered its first round total by three shots but was only able to move into 12^th in the team standings with a score of 597. Leonie Harm fired the team’s low score of the day with a 71, moving the 2018 American Player of the Year into a tie for 34^th with a 3-over score of 147.

A team-wide illness struck ECU overnight, knocking the Pirates out of championship contention at the Austin Regional. Kathryn Carson and Carley Cox were the only members of the Pirates' five-man roster to compete in the second round.

Dorthea Forbrigd , Kate Law and Lisa Pettersson did not participate in Tuesday's round; therefore ECU is ineligible to advance beyond Wednesday’s third round.

Cox carded a 2-over-par 74 and fell to 6-over-par 150 (76-74), but moved up five places into a tie for 48th. Carson fired a 6-over-par 78 and fell 18 places into a tie for 60th at 8-over-par 152 (74-78).