April 24, 2006
TUCSON, Ariz. - The No. 3 Arizona State women's golf team stands in first place after the first round of the 2006 Pacific-10 Conference Championships, being held at the par 72, 6,495-yard Oro Valley Country Club.
The Sun Devils shot a one-under 287 on Monday and stand four strokes in front of No. 2 UCLA, which shot a three-over 291. No. 6 USC is in third place (293), followed by No. 12 California (296), No. 21 Stanford (299), Washington State (300), No. 19 Arizona (301), Oregon State (307), Washington (308) and Oregon (314).
"We started just the way we wanted to start," said Arizona State head coach Melissa Luellen. "We wanted to shoot even par or better today and we were able to accomplish that.
"I thought the girls did a good job of staying focused on their own games and we will look to continue that focus. I'm going to have the team come up with a score that they want to shoot on Tuesday and then say how they will get that score."
Four Sun Devils were in the top 10 after the first day led by freshman Azahara Munoz, who shot a two-under 70 and finished the round tied for first place with Ana Kostina of Washington State. For Munoz, it was the sixth time this season that she shot a round of 70 or better. Also shooting under par on Monday was senior Alissa Kuczka, who carded a one-under 71 and finished the round in a five-way tie for third place.
Also standing in the top 10 after the first round of play were junior Tiffany Tavee and freshman Jennifer Osborn, who both shot a two-over 73 to finish in a eight-way tie for ninth place. Junior Charmaine Erasmus shot a seven-over 79 and finished the first round tied for 39th place.
The Pac-10 Championships continue on Tuesday and Wednesday with tee times beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday and 8 a.m. on Wednesday. ASU will start off the first tee at 9:50 a.m. and will play with UCLA in Tuesday's second round.
Live scoring is available at www.golfstatresults.com, while a recap of each round's results will be posted at www.thesundevils.com.