Jayhawks in fifth place after Day One of Lady Paladin Invitational

GREENVILLE, S. C. – Powered by duo Sera Tadokoro and Pear Pooratanaopa, the Kansas women’s golf team sits in fifth place following day one of the Lady Paladin Invitational in Greenville, South Carolina.

Coming off a hot performance at the Sunflower Invitational, Tadokoro and Pooratanaopa paved the way for the Jayhawks, both finishing the day 1-under (71) and in a tie for sixth place while tallying a combined eight birdies on the day.

"Sera and Pear are off to a great start. It’s really nice to see them step up and lead the way for us again. They both were able to capitalize with birdies throughout the round and didn’t have anything over bogey. "

Erin O'Neil, Head Coach

In her second tournament of the season, Aristelle Acuff found her stride early, recording two birdies and shooting even during her first six holes. Her hot streak slowed on the back-nine and she currently sits in the middle of the pack, shooting 3-over par (75).

Yi-Tsen Chou and Ying-Ting Hseih struggled early on and had difficulty catching back up to their opponents after recording a handful of bogeys in the opening round of action.

“We did a good job of keeping our heads in a good place even though it was kind of a rough start for a few of us,” said O’Neil. “We could still do better on par 5’s since almost all are reachable. We definitely should not be making any bogeys.”

As a team, KU shot 6-over 294, good for fifth place positioning in the opening round of action.

“We are in a good position after round one but there’s still lots of golf left to play so we can’t get ahead of ourselves,” said O’Neil. “We need to stick to our goals of playing smart, committed golf and focusing on the process of each shot to put ourselves in position to succeed.”

The Jayhawks will continue round two of the Lady Paladin Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 28 with an 8 a.m. (CT) tee time.