LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi golf team shot an opening-round 321 to sit in 10th place at the 14-team Pat Bradley Invitational on Sunday at Lakewood Ranch Golf Club. Ana Paredes led the way with a 6-over-par 78 in the first 18 holes.
"We played much better golf today than our last tournament, so that was a big step in the right direction," head coach Carol Blackmar said. "I was happy with our improved focus today, and am hopeful we carry that over into tomorrow. We need to continue our solid play into rounds two and three to be successful."
In addition to Paredes' 78, Anna Millet-Esteve delivered an 80 and Nagisa Miura shot 81. Julia Dereniwsky (82) and Olivia Lowe (84) rounded out the scores for the Islanders.
Memphis leads all teams through the opening round with an even-par 288, while Daytona State sits six shots back at 294. Host Florida International shot a 295 in round one, while fourth-place Jacksonville was the only other team to crack 300 at 298.
The Tigers also have the individual leader in the event, with Michaela Fletcher's 69 best in the field at three-under-par. DSU's Tiffany Chan (minus-2) sits in second place, while Jacksonville's Sabrina Rumbaugh and Memphis' Ashley Kees (minus-1) also shot in the red in the first 18 holes.
Paredes had a very consistent round, delivering 12 pars and six bogeys for her 78. She opened play on 10, and posted seven pars through her opening nine holes, but a bogey on the first pushed her to three over. She bounced back with pars on two and three, but delivered three bogeys and three pars in the final six holes to finish plus-6 on the day.
Millet-Esteve had a wild round, particularly at the start. In her opening seven holes, she posted five bogeys and a double to fall to 7-over. She bounced back with a par on 17, then finished her ninth hole with a birdie 4 on the par-5 18th. She delivered three bogeys and five pars on the next eight holes, then finished off her round just as she wrapped her first nine holes, notching birdie on the par-5 ninth.
Miura started with pars on 10 and 11, but bogeyed each of the next four holes to fall back to plus-4. She bounced back with pars on both 16 and 17, then alternated bogeys and pars over the next six holes to head to the sixth at plus-7. Bogeys on both the sixth and seventh set her back to 9-over, but she finished the round with pars on eight and nine to come away with an 81.
Dereniwsky got out to a solid start by delivering six pars on her first nine holes to sit plus-3 heading to the first, but bogeyed 1 and doubled 2. She rebounded with three straight pars, but finished double-bogey-par-bogey to enter the clubhouse at plus-10. Lowe was six over on both the front and the back nine to post an 84 on the day.
Round two of the Pat Bradley Invitational tees off at 8:30 on Monday, with live stats available on BirdieFire.com. Updates will be provided on Twitter (@IslandersGolf) as well.
