The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
ASU/PING Lady Sun Devil
Vandermade leads Women's Golf with 1-over 73 in opening round of PING/ASU Invitational
04.09.2010 | Women's Golf
April 9, 2010
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Freshman Nicole Vandermade carded a 1-over-par 73 in the opening round of the PING/ASU Invitational to lead Texas Women's Golf with a tie for 30th place on the individual leaderboard. As a team, the Longhorns recorded an 11-over 299 for 13th place in a 17-team field that includes 11 of the Top 25 squads in the nation.
Vandermade's 73 was the result of four bogeys and three birdies on the par-72, 6,230-yard ASU Karsten Golf Course. Her trio of subpars came on all but one of the par-5s on the course where the greens were easily reachable for UT's longest hitter.
Freshman Haley Stephens finished one stroke behind Vandermade and is tied for 38th place with a 74. Stephens' 2-over came after a tumultuous back nine where she was 5-over on her last four holes (Nos. 15-18). Stephens found momentum after making the turn with birdie opportunities on the second, third, sixth and seventh holes to drop to 1-over, but a closing bogey on the final hole pushed her to 2-over on the day. Senior Shannon Fish and freshmen Desiree Dubreuil and Madison Pressel are knotted at 55th place with first-round scores of 4-over 76.
Host Arizona State leads the field at 9-under 279. Southern California finished the day with a 7-under 281 for second place, while Purdue also finished under par at 1-under 287 and is in third place. Four teams are tied for fourth place with scores of 3-over 291.
ASU's Carlota Ciganda and Tulsa's Kristina Merkle share the individual lead at 4-under 68. Three players are one stroke behind and tied for third place.
The second round of the PING/ASU Invitational will tee off at 10 a.m CT Saturday morning on the first and 10th holes. Live scoring will be available on www.Golfstat.com.
PING/ASU Invitational Results (Top Five Team) - Round One
1. Arizona State, 279 (-9)
2. Southern California, 281 (-7)
3. Purdue, 287 (-1)
T4. Alabama, 291 (+3)
T4.UCLA, 291 (+3)
T4. New Mexico, 291 (+3)
T4. Denver, 291 (+3)
Top Five Individuals
T1. Carlota Ciganda, Arizona State - 68 (-4)
T1. Kristina Merkle, Tulsa - 68 (-4)
T3. Jennifer Johnson, Arizona State - 69 (-3)
T3. Lizette Sales, Southern California - 69 (-3)
T3. Jennifer Song, Southern California - 69 (-3)
Texas Individuals
T30. Nicole Vandermade, 73 (+1)
T38. Haley Stephens, 74 (+2)
T55. Desiree Dubreuil, 76 (+4)
T55. Shannon Fish, 76 (+4)
T55. Madison Pressel, 76 (+4)
POST-ROUND QUOTES
Head Coach Martha Richards
On the team's overall performance: Today was not a terrible start for us, but it's not as good as I would have liked to have seen. We have room to make a move in the next couple of days and we're going to have to do a better job of capitalizing on our birdie opportunities to make a big move. Today's conditions were up for the taking, and we were close. We played a lot of really good golf, but still gave away too many holes.
On playing against a top-ranked field: We're getting a really good lesson in what it takes to be one of the best teams in the country by playing here. When you're competing against the best, every single shot can make a difference. This event and these lessons will only make us stronger as we continue to prepare for the upcoming Big 12 Championship and NCAA Championships.
