Furman’s Anna Morgan played a shot better in the second round and broke out of a 12 way tie for sixth place into a two-way tie for fourth.

South Carolina also improved in the second round, but now are in a battle to make the top-15 in order to play the final round of stroke play at the NCAA Championship being played at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottdale, Arizona.

Morgan shoots 1-under, moves into a tie for fourth

The Lady Paladin’s Anna Morgan started the second round of the NCAA Championship in a 12 way tie for sixth place.

She survived a bogey on her opening hole to go on to card a 1-under par 71 and move into a tie for fourth place going into the third round.

Morgan bounced back from the opening bogey with four-birdies in her final six holes on the opening nine to move to 3-under par.

The Furman golfer from Spartanburg gave those three shots back with a rough stretch between holes 12 and 15 to drop back to even for the day.

Morgan got back under par with a birdie on her 17th hole and finished out the second round at 1-under par for the round and the tournament.

The individual leader continues to be the number one ranked golfer in the country Rose Zhang from Stanford.

Zhang shot a 2-under par round of 70 to stand at 6-under par with a four-shot lead over Beth Lillie from Virginia and Megan Schofill from Auburn.

Gamecocks gain two spots, now 18th.

South Carolina appears to be on the verge of taking another high national ranking into the NCAA Tournament and could again be leaving disappointed.

The Gamecocks improved on their first round by 6 shots, but were only able to gain two spots and remain well back of the eighth and final qualifying position to advance to Match Play.

However, before the #3 ranked Gamecocks worry about making the final eight, they need to improve from 18th to at least the 15th spot in order to make the cut and play the final stroke play round.

San Jose State and Virginia are in a tie for 14th place and currently occupy the final spot before the cut.

The Gamecocks need to pick up three shots to catch the teams in front of them.

South Carolina does not have one individual golfer in the top-40 and only one more in the top-70.

Freshman Annika Award finalist Hannah Darling lost 33 spots in the individual standings after posting a 6-over par 78 and now is tied for 78th.

The best score turned in by a South Carolina golfer was a 1-over par 73 by Mathilde Claisse. The Gamecock Junior is the only member of the USC team who played in last year’s NCAA tournament.

Following her first round 7-over par 79, her second round score moved her up 30 spots into an eight way tie for 70th.

Top-ranked Stanford continues to lead the team competition. The Cardinal shot a 4-over par round and leads Oregon by 5 shots going into the third round.

NCAA Women’s Championship Round 2 scores https://results.golfstat.com//public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=24975