NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas - Freshman Ciera Min is the individual leader and Gonzaga University's women's golf team holds the team lead after 36 holes of the Jim West Challenge Monday at the Bandit Golf Club.
Min had rounds of 1-over par 72 and even-par 71 for a 36-hole score of 143 and a 1-stroke lead over Jenna Hague of Ball State University while Gonzaga's Raychelle Santos is another stroke back after rounds of 68-77 for 145. Alice Kim is tied for sixth at 149 with rounds of 73-76 over the 6,178-yard, par 71 layout which is located just outside of San Antonio.
"We had a good round in the morning. I was very happy with how we played," Gonzaga head coach Brad Rickel said. "The wind was down, the course was a tiny bit soggy. We had a good game plan and executed it."
It was a different story in the afternoon as the wind picked up with gusts of 15-20 mph.
"The afternoon round the wind came up and it was blowing the opposite direction than it did in the practice round, so it made the course a little different. We didn't react to it as well as we could have," Rickel said.
Overall, Rickel was pleased with the spring opener.
"Raychelle had a great round in the morning with a 68 and Ciera's 71 in the afternoon was great under the conditions," Rickel said. "Han (Wu) and Alice each had a good round. Obviously, we had to take an 82 in the afternoon, but as you can see all of the scores were higher. TJ (Tai Jade 'TJ' Kliebphipat) struggled, but she is working hard at fixing it and Angela (De Villa) had a 76 in the morning.
De Villa is playing as an individual.
The Bulldogs are nine shots ahead of host Texas State University at 591 after rounds of 285-306. TSU is at 600 with the University of Arkansas-Little Rock well back of the Bulldogs in third place at 614.
Gonzaga's first-round 285 is the third-best single-round score in school history, and the 36-hole total of 591 is also the third-best in school history. Santos' 68 was two strokes off Kim's school record 66 set last fall. Min's 36-hole score of 143 ties for third on the all-time Gonzaga list and Santos' 145 ties for 15th on the all-time 36-hole list.
"We are where we want to be in the last group on the final day," Rickel said of the goal of every tournament.
The Bulldogs will tee off at 6:15 a.m. PST Tuesday in a shotgun start for the final 18-hole round.
