MANHATTAN, Kan. – Ansley Bowman carded a 73, and the Georgia Southern women's golf team is in eighth after the first round of the Marilynn Smith Invitational Sunday at Colbert Hills.
Tournament host Kansas State (-1) leads the field, and Tulsa (+11) is in second. The Eagles (+22) are one stroke back of Little Rock and Rutgers (+21), who are tied for sixth. Kansas (+19) is in fifth, and Arkansas State (+18) is in fourth.
Bowman (+1) is tied for fifth with four others, one stroke back of third and seven shots off the lead.
Sarah Noonan shot 78,
Natalie Petersen posted a 79,
Ella Ofstedahl shot 80 and
Ashlynn Joyner posted a 95 for the Eagles.
The story
The Eagles teed off on hole 10 and after a rocky start on the first two holes, Bowman played the last 16 holes clean with birdies on holes 1 and 7, the two par-5s on the front, to post the 73.
Noonan carded birdies on her final two holes of the day and played her final 10 holes 1-under par after birdieing the par-5 18th. Petersen notched birdies on three straight holes as she made the turn, and Ofstedahl was even through her first six holes and 2-over on her first nine.
Quotable from coach Emily Kuhfeld
"Our first round of competition this fall was a chilly and windy one at a great golf course. I am happy with the effort and attitudes our team had today and encouraged by many things I saw out there."
"I'm very proud of Ansley for bouncing back after a rough start to lead our team. Her growth as a person and player is becoming evident each day."
"Natalie, Sarah and Ella are all very, very close to really putting great rounds together. I am proud of the work ethic, coachability and team spirit I have seen. The leaderboard is bunched up, and we are in good position to improve on today's performance."
Next up
The Eagles tee it up at 8:15 a.m. local time tomorrow for the second round. GS is paired with Kansas.
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