José Marin, Zibilski Make Cut at Augusta National Women’s Amateur

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Arkansas women’s golfers Maria José Marin and Reagan Zibilski finished above the cut line after the first two rounds of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at Champions Retreat Golf Club (Par 72) and will play in the final round on Saturday at Augusta National Golf Club.

José Marin (-10, T2) made the 1-under cut line for the third time in four appearances after shooting a 10-under 134 through 36 holes. Zibilski (-3, T19) moved on in her first appearance with a 3-under 141. This year’s cut line was the lowest in the championship’s history.

José Marin, starting off No. 1 on Thursday morning, got off to a slower start than Wednesday’s 65 and headed into the ninth hole at even par after a birdie-bogey run at Nos. 3 and 4. The junior got back under par for the day with a birdie at No. 9, a hole she found success at in the first round. José Marin was three shots back of the leader Asterisk Talley with six holes to play, but birdied No. 14 and made an up-and-down birdie on No. 18 to get to 10-under and tied for second place with Stanford’s Meja Örtengren. All four of José Marin’s birdies came on Champions Retreat’s par 5s.

“I think birdieing the par-5s on this course, it’s a huge advantage,” José Marin said in a post-round interview. “They’re not easy par-5s. They have really complicated greens. So birdieing all four, it gives me a pretty good feeling also because I’ve been working on my scoring on the par-5s. So, yeah, it makes me really, really happy. This last birdie, I kind of knew that I had to make birdie in order to be a little closer to the top. So, yeah, it leaves me pretty satisfied.”

José Marin is coming off her first win of the season at last weekend’s Clemson Invitational, where she started the final round three shots back and used a 4-under 68 in the final round to finish atop the leaderboard.

“I do enjoy [coming from behind] a little bit more,” José Marin said. “I think it kind of releases a little bit of pressure of just, like, I’m not on the lead, I’m the second, so I can be a little aggressive, I can think my shot as well, but I’m chasing.”

Zibilski entered Thursday at even par, flirting with the projected cut line, but finished well above at 3-under with four birdies and a bogey. The senior, who started on No. 10, was 1-under with seven holes to go, but birdied Nos. 3 and 6 to move into a comfortable position.

Razorback freshman Sara Brentcheneff missed the cut at 7-over. The Lyon, France native bested her first round score of 77 with a 2-over 74 and was 1-under for the day headed into her final five holes but bogeyed Nos. 14, 15 and 16 to go over par.

Brentcheneff, José Marin and Zibilski will play a practice round at Augusta National on Friday prior to Saturday’s final round with the top 30 and ties, 32 players total.

Live coverage of the final round will air on NBC from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday.

For more information on Arkansas women’s golf, follow @RazorbackWGolf on social media.