The Minnesota women’s golf team opened the 2008 Big Ten Championships in State College, Pa. with a combined 36-hole score of 618 after shooting a 308 in the morning session and a 310 in the afternoon 18. The squad currently sits in 10^th place, two strokes behind ninth place Iowa.

Gopher freshman Teresa Puga carded Minnesota’s lowest score of the day with a 7-over 151 (77-74) and is in a tie for 15^th place individually. Fellow freshman Mary Narsizi is three shots back of her teammate after posting a 10-over 154 (76-78) while junior Paige Broman and freshman Samantha Sommers contributed an 11-over 155 (76-79) and a 14-over 158 (79-79), respectively, through 36 holes. Also, junior Young Na Lee and freshman Michele Edlin both carded 19-over 163’s.

Purdue came into the Big Ten Championships as the sixth ranked team in the nation. They struggled a bit during the morning 18 but bettered their score by 10 strokes in the afternoon session and hold a nine stroke lead over second place Michigan State. Ohio State, Wisconsin and Indiana round out the top five.

Purdue’s Christel Boeljon leads teammate Maria Hernandez and Ohio State’s Emma Jandel by three strokes in the individual competition after carding a 1-under 143. There are 12 golfers that are within seven strokes of Boeljon as the championships head to round three on Saturday.

Saturday’s round three can be followed live on www.golfstat.com.