Starting From The Top
10/22/2013 4:15:00 AM | Women's Golf
SANTA ROSA, Calif. --- California Baptist University had a strong start at the Sonoma State Fall Invitational Monday, leading the 13-team field after one round of play.
The Lancers, who are currently ranked fourth in the NCAA Division II Golfstat rankings, opened with a 297 to lead the tournament host Sonoma State by five strokes. CBU's Tina Yang sits atop the individual standings after firing a two-under 70.
"We played some very good golf today,” said head coach John Hackney. “The tournament was delayed for 30 minutes because of fog and it was 45 degrees when we started play. It took nearly two hours for the fog to lift, but our ladies were focused and got off to an excellent start. With five holes to play, I believe we were leading by more than 10 shots, but we dropped a few coming down the stretch.”
The Lancers had all five players shoot 78 or better, with Marvi Monsalve sitting in a tie for third with a first round 73, Nathalie Silva posting a 76 and Cailey Gino and Natalie Park shooting 78. Silva is tied for 12th and Gino and Park are tied for 19th.
"Tina had an excellent round and was in total command of all aspects of her game, which resulted in her having the individual lead” said Hackney. “She had five birdies, three bogeys and 11 pars. She hit 13 of 18 greens, nine of 14 fairways and needed just 29 putts. Those are great numbers.”
CBU had both Yang and Silva shoot under par on the opening nine and then Monsalve followed a front-nine 40 with a three under back-nine. Monsalve's 33 was the best nine of the tournament thus far.
“I was really proud of the way Marvi rallied today, she came back strong,” said Hackney. “Silva had a superb ball-striking day and was under par for much of the round, and Park was even through 11 holes. If not for a few unfortunate breaks, they would have been right there at the top as well.”
As a team, the Lancers averaged 30 putts each and made 15 birdies on the day.
Following Sonoma State in the team standings are British Columbia and Academy of Art tied at 311 and then Chico State and Western Washington round out the Top 5, each at 312.
