On a cold and rainy day in Tucson, the conference known for sunshine and warm weather took center stage, as three Pacific 10 Conference teams sit atop the leader board after the first round of the Arizona Wildcat Invitational.
ASU (+6), Stanford (+9) and UA (+10) are the top three, followed closely by Pepperdine (+11) and Duke (+12) to round out the top five.
Taylore Karle of Pepperdine sits atop the individual leader board at (-3) and is followed closely by Duke’s Alison Whitaker (-2).
First-place ASU had only one player at or below par, as Carlota Ciganda shot an even-par round of 71. Only four other players in the tournament are at even par or better after round one, and Isabelle Boineau had UA’s low score of 72 (+1).
After winning its last tournament, the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown held in October, Arizona is in a position to duplicate its results.
The Wildcat Invitational was originally scheduled for 54 holes but will be shortened to 36 holes after only one round was permitted by Monday’s weather.
Monday’s rain will put the course in almost ideal scoring conditions, softening the greens so players have better control of ball placement for today’s play.
Since there is no clear-cut favorite after the first round, it’s anyone’s tournament to win. There is a sizeable gap of five strokes between fifth-place Duke and sixth-place New Mexico, so look for the tournament winner to come from the current top-5.
Today’s final round will begin with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. at Arizona National Golf Club.