The first day of the NCAA tournament could not have gone much better for the Michigan State women’s golf team.
The Spartans roared out ahead of the field Monday to an 11-stroke lead over their nearest competitor at the Palm Beach Gardens regional at the PGA National Resort Champions Golf Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
MSU, which entered as the No. 6 seed in the 12-team field, fired a 3-under-par 285, 11 shots ahead of South Florida at 8-over-par 296. Arkansas is third at 9-over, followed by Duke, LSU and Texas all tied for fourth at 10-over.
MSU’s Brooke Biermann is the overall tournament leader after shooting a 3-under 69 Monday. Teammates Katie Lu and Valentina Rossi both shot 71 and are tied for fourth overall. The Spartans’ Leila Raines shot a 74 and is tied for 16th place, while MSU’s Shannon Kennedy is tied for 54th after a 79.
The three-day regional will continue with the second round on Tuesday and the final round on Wednesday. The top five teams, and the top individual not on an advancing team, will all move on to the national championships May 19-24 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
This story will be updated.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Michigan State women’s golf: MSU leads after Round 1 of NCAA regional