Kats 7th after Round 1 of league championship
4/11/2016 9:59:00 PM | Women's Golf
The Sam Houston State women's golf team sits in seventh with a team score of 317 after in the opening round of the 2016 Southland Conference Women's Golf Championship at the Hills Course at Stonebridge Ranch Country Club in McKinney, Texas.
Despite the standing, the Bearkats will enter the second round of the three-day tournament just eight strokes back of fourth place. Lamar leads the eight-team tournament at 299 followed by Central Arkansas in second (302) and Stephen F. Austin in third (305).
Sam Houston's Heather Shake fired an opening-round 75, finishing the day tied for sixth, but is just three strokes behind Lamar co-leaders Taylor Stockton and Wenny Chang. Bearkats' teammate Sarah Black is tied for 15th with a first-round 77.
Elsewhere, Celeste Lo is tied for 28th (82) followed closely by Nicole Budnik and Jenna Phillips who each shot 83 and are tied for 32nd. A season ago, the Bearkats finished fifth with a three-day score of 919 but saw success in the second round, cutting 11 strokes off their first round.
Black and Shake each ranked second on the opening day with three birdies while Shake ranked tied for second, shooting 1-over on the courses' par 4s while Black was tied for fifth, shooting 1-under on the par 5s.
As a team, the Kats were tied for third with seven birdies but struggled on the courses' par 4s, shooting 28-over, ranked the worst among the field. Not helping the field was inclement weather that rolled into the area shortly before 8 a.m., postponing the first round for two and a half hours. A second day occurred at 5:30 p.m., suspending play for another 90 minutes.
Play resumes Tuesday with teams teeing off at 8 a.m. with Phillips being among the opening pairing. Budnik follows at 8:09 a.m. followed by Lo at 8:18 a.m., Black at 8:27 a.m. and Shake at 8:36 a.m. The Bearkats will seek a strong surge, in search of their third league title in program history.
