ROGERS (KFSM) - Only two amateurs entered the Monday qualifying round for the Northwest Arkansas Championship and both will be playing in the tournament this weekend.
Alana Uriell and Regina Plasencia, both members of the Arkansas women's golf team, fired the two best rounds to earn a spot in the 54-hole tournament. Uriell fired a career best 7-under, 64 at Pinnacle Country Club to post the best mark.
"I had a lot of confidence in my game," Uriell said. "I was hoping to shoot 1-under, 2-under, somewhere in there. Once I started hitting solid shots it was like nothing. I wasn't even counting halfway through. I actually didn't know how far under I was until like 18 and my caddie was like 'you know we're 7-under right?' I was like there's no way. It was nice. It was cool."
Plasencia finished with a 2-under, 69, to edge a pair of players for the final qualifying spot.
"I can tell you that it is more stressful to wait than it is to be out there playing," Plasencia said. "I just hoped that the 2-under would be good enough to get in and at the end it was. It was an awesome feeling to finally get in. I'm in now. Third time is a charm as they say. I'm really happy that I got it this time."
Hanule Seo and Shang-Fan Huang each carded a 1-under 70 to miss the qualifying number by a stroke while Carleigh Silvers finished at even-par. Only four of the 17 players finished the round under par on Monday.