The Emory women's golf team had a tremendous first day at the Space Coast Classic in Melbourne, FL, putting up 582 (+6) on the day to finish fifth out of 14 Division I teams at the conclusion of round two.

Dartmouth sits in first after day one, shooting a 572 (-4) on Saturday. Rounding out the top three are Notre Dame in second place with a 576 (E) and host team Columbia in third after shooting 578 (+2). The event is being played at Duran Golf Club in Viera.

At the top of the leaderboard for the Eagles is Zimo Li, sitting four strokes under par after 36 holes. The sophomore recorded a 71 (-1) in her opening round and a 69 (-3) in her second round, putting her in a two-way tie for third place going into round three. In the first round, Li was consistent on the front nine as she put up two bogeys and two birdies through the first nine holes to find herself one over par. The back nine saw a nearly identical performance from the second year as she hit back-to-back birdies on holes 11 and 12 and a bogey on 18 to finish with a 71 (-1). Li was on fire to start the second round, putting up another pair of birdies on the first two holes and a third birdie on hole six, putting up a bogey-free round to make her scorecard even going into the back nine. Li had a steady back nine as well, making par on the first four holes before a birdie on 14 and her sole bogey of the round on 17 helped her score a 69 (-3) to end round two.

Next up was rookie Xinyi Zheng who put up a 144 (E) on the day to tie for 11^th place going into round three. She began round one on a low note with a double bogey on the first hole, but quickly rebounded as she made par on the other eight holes to close out the front nine. The freshman found her footing on the back nine, recording two birdies and a bogey on 18 to shoot a 73 (+1) going into round two. Zheng started round two with a bang as she shot back to back birdies on the first two holes, making par on the other six to go two under on the front nine. The back nine saw two bogeys and a birdie from Zheng as she finished the second round with a 71 (-1) going into round three.

Behind Zheng was junior Carys Code who squeaked her way into the top 25 with a 149 (+5) over the first two rounds. Code had a rough start to the first round, shooting four bogeys on the front nine. She had a turbulent back nine as well, recording two birdies, a bogey and a double bogey to put her five over par going into the second round. In round two, she started off steady as the third year made par on each of the first five holes while recording a bogey and a birdie to finish things off. The turbulence returned on the back nine for Code as she shot a double bogey on ten and a birdie on 11, but she found her rhythm as she shot a pair of birdies on 15 and 16 and a bogey on 18 to even her scorecard and score a 72 for her second round.

Sophomore Covi Yan fell behind Code, shooting a 152 (+8) over the two rounds to land in 40^th place. She had a steady first round, recording only three birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey across the first 18 to shoot 74 (+2) to start. Things got shaky for the second year on the front nine in her second round as she recorded three bogeys, a birdie and a double bogey to go five over through nine holes. She cleaned things up on the back nine, recording back to back birdies on 13 and 14 and three bogeys to put up a 78 (+6) going into the third round.

Junior Esther Jung was close behind Yan in 43^rd place as she shot a 153 (+9) across the opening rounds. Jung started off strong with a birdie on the first hole and continued that rhythm across the front nine as she recorded two more birdies and two bogeys going into the back nine. Her back nine was consistent as the junior only shot two bogeys, a birdie and a double bogey on 18 to go two over par and shoot a 74 in her first round. Her second round started smooth as she made par on the first two holes, but three bogeys, a double bogey and a birdie brought her to four over par going into the last nine holes of day one. The back nine was the same story for Jung as she recorded three bogeys, two birdies and a double bogey to shoot a 79 (+7) to close out the second round.

Rounding things out for the Eagles was junior Derica Chiu who landed in 56^th place and shot a 158 (+14) on day one of the Space Coast Classic. Her first round was consistent all the way through, making par on 14 of the 18 holes to put up a 75 (+3) to start things off. The front nine of her second round told a similar story as the junior only recorded one double bogey across the first nine holes, making par on the other eight. Chiu lost her rhythm on the back nine, recording five bogeys and a double bogey to shoot an 83 (+11) going into round three.

The Eagles will hit the course at 8:15 a.m. Sunday morning for a shotgun start to round three of the tournament.