April 9, 2010
TEMPE, Ariz. -
The Arizona State women's golf team got off to a hot start at the PING/ASU Invitational. Playing at the par 72, 6,230-yard ASU Karsten Golf Course, the Sun Devils fired off a 9-under 279 to finish the first round on top of the leaderboard. The team is two shots ahead of second place, USC.
"Today was a great day, we've been practicing and practicing and the girls were just ready to compete," said eight-year head coach Melissa Luellen. "We took a little advantage of the home cooking. We didn't finish as well as we would have liked to, we had three bogeys on our last hole, that kind of cut into our lead a bit."
Carlota Ciganda carded a 4-under 68 to tie for the lead after round one. The sophomore All-American began her day with three straight birdies and never looked back. She is currently tied for first with Tulsa's Kristen Merkle.
"Carlota's playing really solid and feels really good about her putting, which such a positive change," said Luellen.
Not far behind was freshman Jennifer Johnson. Johnson, who competed in the Kraft Nabisco Championship last week, fired off a 3-under 69 to tie for third. The freshman knocked in four birdies on the back nine to help put the Sun Devils on top after round one.
Julianna Murcia and Jaclyn Sweeney each shot 1-under 71 to close out the first round. Sweeney knocked in four birdies over the course of the day, as did Murcia. Both will enter the second round tied for 11th.
Giulia Molinaro carded a 5-over 77 to finish the second round tied for 67th. The Sun Devils also had three individuals in the field. Alessia Knight and Liisa Kelo each shot a 6-over 78 while Larissa Eruera carded 7-over 79.
"This team needs to continue to play well and gain confidence," said Luellen about tomorrow's strategy. "Tomorrow's going to be a slower day and we need to increase momentum instead of just going through the motions."
The team will be paired with USC and Purdue tomorrow. They will tee off Hole 1 at 9:20 a.m. Live results can be found on www.golfstat.com.