MELBOURNE (UCFKnights.com) -- The UCF women's golf team is tied for first place after two rounds at the Moon Golf Invitational at Melbourne's Duran Golf Club.
The Knights were two strokes off the lead after Monday morning's first round, but climbed to the top of the leaderboard following the afternoon's second round. UCF is 7-under par for the tournament, matching the 36-hole total of 30th-ranked Louisville.
"I am really proud of how hard the girls played today," head coach Emily Marron said. "Thirty-six holes is never easy and they really fought tough all day long. We are excited to be in a position to win and will have to bring our best tomorrow, as we have some really good teams on our heels."
No. 50 Augusta and No. 34 Oklahoma are just one and two strokes behind the Knights and Louisville. Through the first two rounds, UCF is in front of five teams who are currently ranked in the Golfstat Top 50.
Seven golfers in the 90-player field carded scores below par in both of the first two rounds. Included in that total was Chinatsu Kobayashi. The sophomore from Chiba, Japan is tied for fourth at 5-under par. She is just three strokes off the individual lead. Kobayashi was 2-under after the first 18 holes. Her second round total of -3 was highlighted by an eagle on No. 3, a 338-yard Par 4. She holed out a 100-yard approach shot to tally the eagle.
A total of four Knights were even par or better through the first two rounds. Maria Balcazar and Alyssa Lamoureux are tied for 12th at 1-under. Balcazar turned in scores of 72 and 71, while Lamoureux carded totals of 71 and 72.
Elizabeth Moon is sitting at even par after turning in totals of 73 and 71.
Ana Laura Collado rounded out the UCF lineup at +11.
Tuesday's third and final round is slated for a 9 a.m. shotgun start. Click here to follow live scoring.