FAYETTEVILLE -- University of Arkansas golfer Maria Fassi and reigning NCAA champion Jennifer Kupcho of Wake Forest have forged a close relationship through their competitive ventures.
Kupcho and Fassi impressed the crowds at Augusta National Golf Course with their camaraderie while battling head to head in the first Augusta National Women's Amateur last month.
Their pairing in the final twosome came after the two bonded at the Arnold Palmer Cup.
"Me and Maria, I've kind of known her since she started coming to Colorado back when she was younger to try and qualify for USGA events," said Kupcho, a native of Westminster, Colo. "So we've kind of known each other since back then.
"But I think our friendship really started ... at the Palmer Cup. Kind of since then we've gone through Q-School and obviously at Augusta, and our friendship just got way stronger. It's just been great since then."
Fassi said it was important for her to show friendship on the course even in a championship round at a setting like Augusta National.
"I feel like what was really special about Augusta is we showed the world what we really stand for and our values and our sportsmanship," Fassi said. "We showed our friendship and love for the game, and I think that means a lot more than a 65. I think that what we showcased out there was really powerful.
"I'm very excited we've gotten a lot closer and that people have seen that other side of us. Not only that we're great golfers, but that we're amazing people as well.
"It's pretty exciting to see that people are valuing that, and I think we've earned a lot of people's respect because of how we behaved. So I'm very excited to keep doing that, and hopefully Jennifer and I can do this for a long time now."
Double eagles
Blessings Golf Club yielded just four eagles in the opening round and Southern California sophomore Amelia Garvey, a long hitter, notched two of them on the par-4 11th, then the par-5 seventh hole after starting her day on No. 10.
"My second hole of the day, No. 11, I hit a really good shot, probably too good," Garvey said. "It actually bounced through the fairway and hit a tree and ended up rolling around the slope, probably to about 30 feet. I ended up holing that. I hit a really good drive there.
"My second one was on 7, so my 16th hole. I just hit my drive a little left in the rough. Just hit a 4 iron, a big, high draw to about 8 feet and holed it. To have an eagle on your second hole of the day you can't ask for much more."
The other eagles were scored by Auburn's Elena Hualde Zuniga and Duke's Miranda Wang.
Garvey said the conditions didn't allow for great scoring, although she shot a 1-over 74 and is in a tie for fifth place.
"The wind is really hard to judge," she said. "Pars are good around here. Birdies are going to come. I think I hit every par 5 today in two, so I know birdies are out there for me. I made no doubles today, which I'm probably more happy about than making two eagles."
Early lead
Arizona State's Alessandra Fanali and Washington's Sarah Rhee posted the top sores from the morning rounds at 1-over 74.
Fanali, a freshman from Fiuggi, Italy, was 3 over with five holes to play before making three consecutive birdies on Nos. 5, 6 and 7.
"I was kind of tired of being 3 over, because I had to three-putt three times, but I was playing good," Fanali said. "I had four easy holes in front of me, and I told myself, 'OK, let's start making some birdies,' and that happened."
Conference reps
The Pac-12 and the SEC lead the field with six schools each in the NCAA championship field.
The Pac-12 has No. 1 USC, No. 4 Arizona, No. 7 Stanford, No. 14 Arizona State, No. 15 UCLA and No. 18 Washington, and the rest of the field will try to break the league's stranglehold on the title.
Pac-12 schools have won the past four championships and eight of the past 11 titles, broken only by Purdue in 2010, Alabama in 2012 and Duke in 2014.
The SEC has No. 8 Vanderbilt, No. 10 Arkansas, No. 11 Florida, No. 13 Auburn, Ole Miss and Tennessee in the field.
The Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten have four members each at Blessings.
The ACC is represented by No. 3 Duke, No. 6 Wake Forest, No. 9 Florida State and No. 17 Virginia.
The Big Ten has No. 16 Northwestern, No. 20 Illinois, Purdue and Indiana.
International flair
Athletes representing 30 different countries and 26 states are competing at the championships.
California is the most common home state for the Americans in the field, with 17 players, followed by Florida with 10, Arizona with eight and Texas with seven.
Countries with the most player representation in the field behind the United States are Sweden with six; China and Italy (five); Mexico, South Africa and Thailand (four); and the Philippines and Spain (three).
Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Switzerland and Taiwan are the home countries of two players each, while Australia, the Czech Republic, England, Ireland, Malaysia, Myanmar, Northern Ireland, Peru, Slovenia and Uruguay have one player each.
Head games
Brandt Packer, the producer for the Golf Channel's coverage of the championships, said Thursday's practice round is one of his favorite days of the event and that the Blessings will mess with the psyche of some players.
"I drive around and talk to all the teams and all the coaches," Packer said on a Wednesday teleconference. "I kind of leave there and get a sense of, wait a minute, I saw four or five teams out there that you can just tell by the questions and their mannerisms that they've already lost before this thing began.
"I think it's going to be fascinating. I think the Blessings will play with a lot of team's heads a little bit."
Sports on 05/18/2019