AUBURN, Ala. -- In its quest to secure its place among the nation's top women's golf teams of all time, Duke has some stiff competition at the top after day one at the NCAA Championship.
The Blue Devils are in second place, tied with West Regional champion UCLA at 289. Oklahoma State leads the way with an even-par 288 after 18 holes.
Duke's total of 289 is a 29 shot improvement over last year's first round total and is its best in an NCAA Tournament since a 288 in 1999.
After a hot start, which included six birdies on the first four holes, lightening stalled the tournament and almost killed Duke's momentum.
"It is not essential to have a good opening round, but it helps," head coach Dan Brooks said. "We feel as though we are in a good place after the first day. We got off to a good start. I felt like we had pretty good momentum heading into the rain delay. We did a good job of keeping it up when we got play started back."
Individually, Allison Hanna of Ohio State paced the field with a round of 69.
For the Blue Devils Virada Nirapathpongporn turned in the low round, shooting a one-under 71. Tuesday, the senior, who won the tournament in 2002, notched five birdies en route to her fourth career under-par round in NCAA Tournament play.
"I got off to a good start," Nirapathpongporn said, who sits in fifth place. "It was a tough course. We have to keep ourselves in position. I am happy with the way I played."
Freshman Brittany Lang, currently in 10th, fired an even-par 72. The fourth-ranked player in the nation birdied two of her first four holes and made the turn at one under before dropping back to even by the end of her round.
With opening rounds of 73, sophomore Liz Janangelo and senior Leigh Anne Hardin are tied for 18th. Hardin played consistent golf as she bogeyed the first hole but finished with 17 consecutive pars.
Janangelo ran into trouble on the par-four fifth, carding a double-bogey, but the nation's top player took advantage of the par fives with a pair of birdies.
"I played really good today," Janangelo said. "I had one bad hole as I had a double on hole five. I putted really well today, but nothing would drop. Maybe it dropped for other people, but it seemed like there were a lot of birdies out there. If someone gets hot you can go low."
Hurt by five bogies, freshman Anna Grzebien rounded out the team with a 75 and currently sits in a tie for 46th.
Paired with UCLA and Vanderbilt, the champions of the other two regions, for the second straight day, Duke tees off at 8 a.m. today. Vanderbilt currently sits in a fifth place tie with Wake Forest.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.