TEMPE, Arizona. – Freshman from Texas Cindy Hus carded a first round 68 to lead the Longhorns on the first day of action at the Ping/ASU Invitational, being played at Papago Golf Club.
Hsu, who hails from Tainan City, Taiwan and placed fourth in her last stroke play event at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, had a stretch of three straight birdies on her round on holes 10-12 and carded five birdies on her back nine. Hsu is in second place with four under par, one shot behind Mississippi state singles leader Julia Lopez Ramirez.
Sophie Guo made three birdies in the front nine to give Texas a good start. After three bogeys on holes 2-4, rookie Emily Odwin came back to make par on 14 straight holes to finish with a three-over-par 75.
As a team, the No. 8 Longhorns carded a six-over-par 294 on Friday to sit in fifth place after the opening round. In addition to Texas, this week’s field includes other top-15 teams, No. 5 Oregon, No. 6 Mississippi State, No. 11 Arizona State, No. 13 Southern California, No. 14 Baylor and No. 15 Arizona. No. 23 Northwestern leads the tournament after day one with six under par 282. Baylor, Oregon and Mississippi State are in second place with two over par 290.
The Ping/ASU Invitational continues on Saturday, March 25th and Sunday, March 26th for 18 holes. Texas will be paired with Mississippi State and Arizona State in the second round of the tournament and will tee off from hole one on Saturday morning at 10:45 a.m. CT.
The preparation
• Student in the first year Cindy Hus carded a four-under par 68 with five birdies on her round, including three straight birdies on holes 10-12. For Hsu, this is her eighth round of the season on par or better and her second best round of the season and is shared by a Texas golfer this season for second best round. Hsu carded a round of 67 at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate.
• Sophie Guo made three birdies on her first eight holes and finished with a one-over par 73 and is T22 on the individual leaderboard. Guo screwed the par 3 eighth and shot three under par on the front nine.
• Student in the first year Emily Odwin, who is in her third stroke play event in college, shot a par 75 three and is T39 on the individual leaderboard. Odwin, who finished T18 in her first collegiate event at the Momorial, recovered from three straight bogeys to make 14 straight pars the rest of the way.
• Bentley cottonThe Austin native made two birdies on her round en route to a six-over-par 78. Cotton has competed in the Texas Eventing Tournament this season, finishing third at the Windy City Collegiate as best individual finisher in Classic.
• Student in the first year Angela Hey made a birdie on the par 5 17th hole and finished with a seven-over-par 79 on day one. Heo finished in the top 16 in two of her three stroke play events, with a best individual finish of T4 at her first collegiate event, the Stanford Intercollegiate. Heo went 3-0 in match play last week, helping Texas to victories over No. 4 South Carolina and No. 6 San Jose State.
Texas scores
T2 Cindy Hus 68 (-4)
T22 Sophie Guo 73 (+1)
T39 Emily Odwin 75 (+3)
T60 Bentley cotton 78 (+6)
T72 Angela Hey 79 (+7)
