Ohio State women's golf tied for lead after Round 1 of NCAA regional

The Ohio State women's golf team ended the first day of the NCAA regionals tied for first place. Ohio State entered the Ann Arbor Regional as the fifth seed in the regional, but the Buckeyes led the first round from start to finish. The top five teams at the end of Round 3 on Wednesday will advance, and the Buckeyes have put themselves in strong position after Round 1.

The Buckeyes, starting on the back nine, got off to a lightning start, including three straight birdies from sophomore Nellie Ong. Every single Buckeye finished the back nine under par, for a team score of -8 and a massive lead. The front nine wasn't as impressive, and a few late bogeys brought Ohio State down to -5 and a tie with Northwestern, the defending National Champions.

Ohio State is ranked No. 29 entering the NCAA regionals, while Northwestern is No. 32. The only other school in the regional to go under par in the first round was USC, the No. 2 team overall. No. 10 Duke (+2) and No. 14 UCF (+3) are the other two schools currently in position to advance to the main NCAA Championships. No. 48 Texas Tech is in sixth, at +4, so the Buckeyes have a nine-stroke lead over failing to advance. But it's a long two rounds of golf to go, so no one is safe.

The Buckeyes advanced to the NCAA Championships last year, where they finished 24th out of 30 teams. This year's team seems both more talented and is more experienced, so they should hope to go further this season.

This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ohio State women's golf tied for lead after Round 1 of NCAA regional