The No. 2 ranked Emory University women's golf team took over a commanding lead of the Golfweek October Classic following a second round surge Monday afternoon at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Destin, Florida.
The Eagles tied a program record with their team total of 283 and heads into the final round with an eight-stroke lead. Through two rounds, Emory stands in the lead at 576 after shooting five-under on Monday with day one leader WashU dropping back to second at 584. Fellow UAA member Carnegie Mellon rounds out the top three at 585 after shooting 291 in the second round – the second-best of any program in the 24-team field.
Behind the Eagles' charge was freshman Zimo Li who continued to lead the 124-golfer tournament. Li once again came in under par with her three-under 69 and owns a four-shot advantage heading into Tuesday. Li's second round featured four birdies and 13 pars.
The biggest change on the player leaderboard came from both senior Ellen Dong and sophomore Carys Code who had matching one-under 71s to climb 38 spots and into the top-15. Code recorded a pair of birdies on holes one and five to go along with a team-leading 15 pars. Dong carded three birdies on holes two, eight and 15 while registering 13 pars. They'll be tied for 14th going into the third and final round.
Sophomore Esther Jung had the highlight of the second round with two eagles on holes one and 13. She added one birdie and 11 pars as she finished even on the day. Jung will be tied for fifth as she begins the third round.
Freshman Covi Yan came in with a two-over 74 as she rounded out the Emory scorecard on Monday. Yan matched Li with a team-high four birdies to go along with nine pars. However, five holes with either a single- or double-bogey pushed Yan to fall back into a tie for ninth overall.
The Eagles will look to capture another team tournament title on Tuesday when the final round starts to tee off at 9:20 AM CT.
