Garner tied for fifth, team in third
BREMERTON, Wash. -- Lea Garner shot a two-over 74 during day one of the West Coast Conference Golf Championships to lead BYU to a third place standing Monday.
Carding an opening round 308 (+20) team score, the Cougars currently sit 10 strokes behind second place Gonzaga (+10) and 15 strokes behind first place No. 24 Pepperdine (+5).
"I thought we played well," BYU head coach Carrie Roberts said. "We just had a couple people struggle at the beginning and end and we would’ve been right there. I think we played pretty well as a team. Obviously, Lea was awesome and we’ll be ready for tomorrow."
Despite struggling midway through the back nine, Garner had a strong finish making birdie on two of her last three holes. She finished with three birdies and 11 pars during round one and currently stands tied for fifth place on the individual leaderboard at two-over-par. Grace Na of Pepperdine leads all golfers after carding an opening round 70 (-2).
Junior Selu Fotu had a strong outing for the Cougars during round one, converting two birdies and ten pars to shoot a five-over 77. She sits in a three-way tie for eighth place at five-over-par.
Annika Afoa Kahaiali'i and Lauren Atkinson shot opening rounds of 78 (+6) and 79 (+7) respectively. Kahaiali'i made 12 pars during the first round to finish tied for 11th place. Atkinson made birdie on holes 5 and 18 and sits in the 17th spot at seven-over-par.
Senior Amanda Keith shot an opening round 83 (+11), including a birdie on the final hole. She is currently tied for 24th in the individual standings.
The Cougars return to the links tomorrow morning for round two tee with times beginning at 8:10 a.m. PDT. Follow live stats at golfstat.com or visit the WCC Golf Championship Central Page at WCCsports.com for scoring updates and video recaps.
Individual Scores
Place | Player | Round 1 | Total Score |
T5 | Lea Garner | 74 | +2 |
T8 | Selu Fotu | 77 | +5 |
T11 | Annika Afoa Kahaiali'i | 78 | +6 |
17 | Lauren Atkinson | 79 | +7 |
T24 | Amanda Keith | 83 | +11 |
Team Scores
Place | Team | Score |
1 | Pepperdine | +5 |
2 | Gonzaga | +10 |
3 | BYU | +20 |
4 | Santa Clara | +28 |
5 | San Francisco | +41 |
6 | Cal State Bakersfield | +54 |