MOLALLA, Ore. (April 19, 2021) – With all four counting golfers in the top 12, the Northern Arizona golf team concluded the first day of the 2021 Big Sky Championship at the top of the leaderboard at 8-over par 296. The Lumberjacks were led by graduate student
Klara Kucharova's 1-over par 73, placing her in a tie for second and two strokes behind the individual leader.
"Any time you can be leading after the first day of the conference championship, it's a good day," said head coach
Brad Bedortha. "It's been quite a few years that we've been in this position at the conference championship so it's nice to be back in that spot. We've had some adversity, but they handled themselves great. We didn't get off to a great start, but we kept competing."
As a team, the 'Jacks were sensational on the back nine as Kucharova, freshman
Ekaterina Malakhova and juniors
Aleksandra Chekalina and
Elle Kocourkova were a combined 2-under par to secure the team-lead through the first 18 holes at Arrowhead Golf Club.
NAU finished Monday two strokes ahead of Sacramento State, the defending conference champion, with Portland State six strokes back in third-place. It is the first time since 2016 that NAU has held the team-lead at the Big Sky Championship after the first round.
Kucharova is one of five players chasing Sacramento State's Corinne Viden, who leads the field at 1-under par 71. Kucharova tallied a team-best four birdies on the day, tied for the most individually in the tournament.
"When we made the turn at 10 and 11, I could tell we started hitting more quality shots and making pars," Bedortha said. "Once we got to 13, I knew that if we kept playing well, we could shoot a pretty good score. Klara played great and for her to shoot that score for us, that was huge. We knew we needed Klara and Lorel (Hayward) to step up, and today was her day and hopefully tomorrow's Lorel's day."
Sitting at 2-over par through 12 holes, Kucharova birdied 13 and 14 to begin a stretch of three birdies in four holes. Her 73 was her second-lowest round of the season and was the driving force behind NAU's day one performance.
Both Malakhova and Chekalina are tied for seventh individually at 2-over par 74. Malakhova played the back nine to even par with both of her birdies coming on 10 and 16.
Meanwhile, Chekalina rebounded from a slow start with four bogeys through eight holes to finish the day within the top 10. After a bogey on hole 8 dropped her to 3-over par, Chekalina parred seven straight holes before a birdie on 16 during a stretch of 10 par or better holes to conclude the afternoon.
Like Chekalina, Kocourkova settled in midway through the first round on her way to a 3-over par 74, putting her in a tie for 12th. Kocourkova also played 10 consecutive par or better holes to end the day and recorded birdie on 17 to punctuate her first round with both juniors shooting 1-under on the back nine.
"Ellie was 3-over after four holes, and then she started making a bunch of pars and hitting good shots," Bedortha said. "She saved a good par on 4 and 5 and then started playing more consistently. Aleks just keeps competing and doesn't get down on herself. Even when she was making bogeys, she was hitting good shots and I knew sooner or later it was going to pay off."
While the Lumberjacks had just 10 birdies on Monday, they led all 11 Big Sky teams with 56 pars. Kocourkova's 14 pars were tied for the most, while Malakhova and Chekalina each had a dozen.
Sophomore
Lorel Hayward is tied for 32nd going into the second round at 8-over par 80. Her highlight came on the par-4 hole 8 where she was the only Lumberjack to record birdie.
Tuesday's second round will tee off at 8 a.m. with Hayward leading it off for NAU at 10:30 a.m. The Lumberjacks will be in the final group along with Sacramento State and Portland State.
Following Hayward at 10:30 a.m., Kocourkova (10:40 a.m.), Chekalina (10:50 a.m.), Malakhova (11 a.m.) and Kucharova (11:10 a.m.) will tee off. Live results will be available on
Golfstat all tournament long.
To stay up to date with the NAU golf team, follow the Lumberjacks on
Twitter and
Instagram.
Full Team Leaderboard
1. Northern Arizona – 296 (+8)
2. Sacramento State – 298 (+10)
3. Portland State – 302 (+14)
4. Weber State – 305 (+17)
5. Idaho – 308 (+20)
6. Northern Colorado – 310 (+22)
7. Southern Utah – 316 (+28)
T8. Montana – 320 (+32)
T8. Eastern Washington – 320 (+32)
T8. Montana State – 320 (+32)
11. Idaho State – 322 (+34)
NAU Individual Scores
T2.
Klara Kucharova – 73 (+1)
T7.
Ekaterina Malakhova – 74 (+2)
T7.
Aleksandra Chekalina – 74 (+2)
T12.
Elle Kocourkova – 75 (+3)
T32.
Lorel Hayward – 80 (+8)
Gallery: (4-19-2021) Big Sky Championship Day 1
