Raymore, Mo. – The Illinois State women's golf team completed the opening round Monday of UMKC's Kansas City Intercollegiate at the par-72, 5,927-yard Creekmore Country Club Course. The Redbirds sit in sixth-place with a 314 after the morning round was canceled due to snowfall. The tournament is led by IUPUI, who shot a 299, three strokes ahead of second-place teams North Dakota State and South Dakota State.
Sophomore Paige Seiser led the Redbirds over the first 18 holes with a score of 5-over-par 77 (38-39). The sophomore collected two birdies, with one coming on each side. Seiser sits in a tie for 11th place. One stroke behind Seiser was junior Caitlin Sims, who fired a 6-over-par 78 (38-40). Sims is in a tie for 17th place.
Sophomore Morgan Savage carded a 7-over-par 79 (38-41) in the first round. The sophomore produced two birdies on the front nine and currently sits in a tie for 23rd place on the individual leaderboard. Finishing one stroke behind Savage was senior Kiley Walsh who rounded out the scoring for the Redbirds. Walsh tallied an 80 (39-41) over 18 holes and carded one birdie on the front nine. Freshman Maria Jose Rojas shot an 83 (41-42) in her first tournament of the fall season. Rojas tallied two birdies on the back nine.
Illinois State also had one student-athlete compete as an individual. Senior Abby Luchtenburg carded a first day total of 85 (43-42). Luchtenburg produced one birdie on the back nine.
"We battled today but really just threw away shots towards the end of the round," said head coach Darby Sligh. "Our shot selection and short game got loose and we strung together bogies instead of pars in the middle of the round. Our ball striking saw marked improvement from weeks past so I'm excited that we are heading in the right direction. It would be nice to see this squad put together something low tomorrow."
The Redbirds will play the second and final round of the Kansas City Intercollegiate Tuesday with a shotgun start at 9 a.m. CT. Live scoring will be available through Golfstat.com
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