RIO VERDE, Ariz. – Led by an even-par effort from senior Morgan Savage, the Illinois State women's golf team closes the first of three rounds at the Rio Verde Invitational in 14th place in a crowded 18-team field.
Savage's round has her tied for third place individually in the field, and a stroke out of first place in the individual standings. Tatum King, playing as an individual, is also in the top-20 overall, tied for 15th after the first day of the tournament.
As a team Illinois State carded a round of 316, ahead of Bradley (318), Bowling Green (318), Ohio (321), and Central Michigan. There are 10 teams directly ahead of ISU that are within just 11 strokes. Xavier has the lead after the first day with a team score of 297, and they are followed by Arkansas State (299), Northern Illinois (302), Ball State (305), Seton Hall (306), Missouri State (307), Eastern Michigan (307), Boise State (307), Akron (309), Little Rock (312), Wichita State (312), Western Michigan (313), and Kansas City (314).
Savage, who started her round on the 10th hole opened with five consecutive pars before her lone bogey of the round came on the 15th hole and put her one stroke over par. She remained at one stroke over par for the next 11 holes before she closed her day with a birdie on the par-four ninth hole to drop her score to an even-par 72.
Of the Redbird varsity scorers, senior Becca Black had the second lowest score of the day, shooting a six-over 78 which included a birdie and 11 pars through the opening day of the three-day tournament. Freshman Ali Schrock finished her day nine strokes over par with a trio of birdies and five pars over the 18 holes.
The final scoring golfer for the Redbirds on the day was senior Paige Seiser who used two birdies and five pars to shoot an 85 on the difficult course. Emma Sutton used seven pars over her opening 18 holes to finish with an opening-round 88. King had a very even-paced round as an individual with a birdie, 13 pars and just five bogeys over the round.
The 18-team field returns to action on Saturday, as the groups go off on a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m., with the Redbirds starting on the 12th, 13th, and 14th holes and will play the course with Kansas City and Bradley on the second of three days.
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