Golf History: Peg Barnard Invitational Day 2

            Well, the first tournament of the year is in the books.  On the Rules front, day 2 remained fairly quiet besides the usual.  The drop zone on hole 4 got plenty of use, and there were a few questions about French drains, but nothing out of the ordinary.  Again, the shotgun start resulted in all groups finishing under the set pace of play with only 3 timing warnings being given throughout the entire event. 

            Today was extremely notable, however, as we were witness to what may well be the lowest competitive nine holes of golf ever played at any level.  I had the honor of tallying up a front nine score of 26 for Stanford’s Mariah Stackhouse.  Let me emphasize that – TWENTY-SIX.  She was nine-under through nine holes including 5 birdies and two eagles.  She proceeded to add three more birdies to offset two bogeys on the back and finished at 10-under par 61.  We’re checking the record books but the immediate verdict is that this is the lowest round ever scored in NCAA women’s history.

            To all the officials who were with me and part of this special day, thank you, I’m glad we all got to witness history.

            I was first alerted to the low scoring at the ninth hole after I witnessed Stackhouse drain a 30-footer for birdie.  Stanford head coach Anne Walker told me first that the birdie put her at -8 thru nine and then corrected it to -9 when she found out Stackhouse had also birdied the 8^th hole.  The rest of the story is on the card.  I doubt I will ever get to tally a front nine like this again, so it is certainly worthy for everyone’s eyes here. By the way, Stanford won the team competition in addition to Stackhouse's double-digit individual victory.