Mississippi State player opens home event with NCAA record-tying round

Mississippi State’s Avery Weed tied an NCAA record on Monday at the Bulldogs’ home event.

Weed, a sophomore from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, fired an 11-under 61 in the opening round of The Ally at Old Waverly Golf Club, matching the lowest round in relation to par in NCAA history.

Previously, five players have shot 11 under, including North Carolina State’s Lauren Olivares Leon, who last fall shot 11-under 60 at the Cougar Classic to set a new NCAA scoring record. Weed is now the sixth player to card 61 and first since Michigan’s Money Chun did so at the Princeton Invitational last spring.

Weed’s record-tying round, which broke Mississippi State’s program record by two shots, included no bogeys, five birdies and three eagles on par-5s. Weed played Old Waverly’s four par-5s in a combined 7 under.

Weed, who won the 2023 Mississippi State Amateur before coming to school, notched her first college win earlier this fall at the Mason Rudolph Championship and has yet to finish worse than T-11 in three previous starts this semester.

She’ll enter Tuesday’s second round seven shots ahead of Auburn’s Katie Cranston, Vanderbilt’s Sara Im and Southern Mississippi’s Ragini Navet. Mississippi State, playing without its best player Julia Lopez Ramirez because of LPGA Qualifying, trails Vanderbilt by one on the team leaderboard.

Here is a look at the lowest rounds in NCAA women’s golf history:

• 11-under 60, Lauren Olivares Leon, N.C. State, 2023 Cougar Classic

• 11-under 61, Esther Lee, Colorado, 2016 Dick Maguire Invitational

• 11-under 61, Bianca Pagdanganan, Gonzaga, 2017 Pizza Hut Thunderbird Invitational

• 11-under 61, Julia Johnson, Ole Miss, 2019 Battle at the Beach

• 11-under 61, Anna Zanusso, Denver, 2020 Westbrook Invitational

• 10-under 61, Mariah Stackhouse, Stanford, 2013 Peg Barnard Invitational

• 10-under 61, Monet Chun, Michigan, 2024 Princeton Invitational