TULSA, Okla. – Southeastern ends the first round at the GAC Championship in ninth with a score of 38-over 322.
No. 31 Arkansas Tech leads the field after 18-holes of play with a 17-over 301, while Northwestern Oklahoma State is second, following a 22-over 306 opening round. No. 46 Southwestern Oklahoma State (+23) holds a one-stroke advantage over No. 50 Henderson State (+24), and Oklahoma Baptist fills out the top five with a 26-over 310.
Carley Button leads the Savage Storm line-up at the end of day one at 6-over 77. Button shot 6-over 41 on the front nine before putting in her best play on the back half, where she shot even-par 36 with a birdie on hole 18 to cap off the day. Similar to Button,
Kaeli Drake improved as the day went on, carding a 7-over 78. Drake began the round 5-over 40 and later shot 2-over 38 with four pars and a birdie on the final five holes of the back half.
Meredith Reid started strong with a birdie on the first hole of the day and parred the next two to shoot 1-over 37 on the first nine. Reid finished off the round with a 9-over 45 on the final nine holes of play to complete the round 11-over 82.
Ally Richard and
Karen Kim finished within one stroke of each other in round one, as Richard shot 14-over 85 and Kim turned in a 15-over 86. Richard began her round with a 6-over 41 before carding an 8-over 44 on the back nine. Kim also fired a 6-over 41 in the first nine holes of the round and later shot 9-over 45 and would scatter two birdies across the round.
Southeastern will look to close the gap to the top five in round two tomorrow, with Kim getting the day started at 8:50 on hole one at the Par 71 Stone Creek at Page Belcher Golf Course.
