SIMPSONVILLE, Ky. — Maria Jose “MJ” Barragan ended day one of the NCAA Louisville Regional tied for sixth at 3-under, carding three birdies and no bogeys on Monday at University of Louisville Golf Club.
“She’s been working on putting the ball more forward with no sway,” head coach Carrie Roberts said. “She’s been hitting the ball like this for a while and just hasn’t made putts, but today she did. Our course management set her up very well and she capitalized on her back nine.”
Barragan made par on her first 12 holes before carding her first birdie on hole four, her 13th of the day. The junior rolled in two more birdies on six and eight to get her to 3-under par for the day. Barragan’s ball striking showed out as she hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation.
In order to advance to the NCAA Championship at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa, Barragan will need to finish as the low individual, not on an advancing team. The current low individual finished two strokes ahead of the Mexico native and tied for the lead.
“Moving forward, we will continue with the game plan of controlling what we can control and focus on placing the ball to give her better odds to score well,” Roberts said.
Round two at Louisville GC will tee off for Barragan at 7:50 a.m. MDT, pairing with Isabella Johnson of Middle Tennessee State and Ella Galitsky of South Carolina. Live scoring will be updated on Scoreboard, with more updates on Instagram and X.