Johansson Leads Cats on First Day of Darius Rucker Intercollegiate

First-round results | Second-round tee timesHILTON HEAD, S.C. – This year’s Darius Rucker Intercollegiate features one of the toughest courses and toughest fields in the country to date, and it showed on day one at the Long Cove Club in Hilton Head, S.C.The Kentucky women’s golf team is in 17th place after a tournament-opening 307, though only eight shots separate the Wildcats from the top 10. Sophomore Isabelle Johansson, who has led the Wildcats in scoring average throughout the season, paced UK in the first round with a 3-over 74.Kentucky is right back in action on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. for the second round of the 54-hole tournament. Traditionally one of the spring stops for some of the nation’s best teams, this week’s tournament features seven of GolfStat’s top 25 teams, including No. 1 Southern California, No. 2 Duke, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 Georgia. Duke returns as the defending national champion, but it’s Alabama that leads the way after the opening 18 holes with a score of 6-under par.Coming off their best tournament of the season, a fifth-place finish at the UCF Challenge in February, the Wildcats looked to continue their momentum in the first round at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, but the Pete Dye Course at the Long Cove Club proved to be a difficult challenge Friday.Johansson managed the par-71, 6,208-yard course the best Friday, recording a team-best two birdies. The freshman from Sala, Sweden got off to a bit of a rough start with bogeys on two of her first three holes, but she was just 1-over par the rest of the day and finds herself in a tie for 31st.Freshman Anna Hack continued her steady improvement in her first season in college with a 77 in the first round. She bounced back nicely from two bogeys and a double bogey in a four-hole stretch on the back nine with a birdie on the par-3 17th hole. Hack is in a tie for 57th.Senior Cylia Damerau, who is coming off a career-best fourth-place finish at the UCF Challenge, had a solid round going through the first nine holes at 2-over par, but back-to-back double bogeys early in the back nine derailed her round a bit and she finished with a 78, good enough for a tie for 68th.Sophomore Grace Rose is tied with Damerau with a 78, while junior Jordan Chael is tied for 82nd with an 8-over-par 79.Located on the banks of one of South Carolina’s most beautiful islands, Long Cove was designed by Pete Dye, one of the century’s greatest golf course architects. The course has consistently been rated among the top golf courses in the country. Most recently, in 2014, it was ranked No. 15 in the Top 100 Residential Golf Courses in the U.S. by Golfweek Magazine.Fans can continue to follow along with live scoring of the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate Tournament at golfstat.com.As always, fans can follow the team on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com, for the latest Kentucky women’s golf information.Darius Rucker IntercollegiateLong Cove Club – Pete Dye CourseHilton Head, S.C.March 4-6Par: 71Yardage: 6,208