Garner leads Cougars to fifth place standing after day one

CHANDLER, Ariz. – Freshman Lea Garner shot an opening round 77 to lead the Cougars to a fifth place standing at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic Monday.

The Cougars had a solid team effort during day one despite the windy conditions at Ocotillo Golf Resort. Combining to shoot a 34-over-par 322, BYU currently stands tied for fifth place with Portland State (+34) in the 19-team tournament hosted by Wyoming.

"We played really well," BYU head coach Carrie Roberts said. "It was 40 mph winds all day and dust storms. It was some of the worst weather I’ve seen on a golf course, so I thought we actually battled pretty well."

Boise State sits in first place at 19-over-par, 15 strokes ahead of BYU (+34), while West Coast Conference foe Santa Clara stands tied for 14^th place at 45-over-par.

Garner had one of her best rounds of the season, finishing with one birdie and 12 pars to lead the Cougars. She currently stands tied for fourth place among 103 golfers at five-over-par. Hayley Young of Boise State leads all golfers after carding a one-under 71 in the first round.

"Lea’s 77 was awesome," Roberts said. "She was one of the best scores on the day, which tells you how tough [the course] is playing."

Junior Annika Kahaiali’i also had a strong outing for the Cougars highlighted by an eagle on hole 18. She finished with a first round 80 (+8), and stands tied for 23rd at eight-over-par.

Senior Amanda Keith shot a first round 82 (+10), making one birdie and seven pars to tie for 41st place through 18 holes.

Junior Selu Fotu and sophomore Lauren Atkinson shot opening rounds of 83 and 85 respectively. Fotu finished with 10 pars and currently stands tied for 48th place, while Atkinson converted two birdies and seven pars to tie for 66th place.

The Cougars return to action tomorrow morning with tee times beginning at 6:30 a.m. MST. Live stats of tomorrow’s second round can be followed at golfstat.com.

Individual Scores

Team Scores