Pooratanaopa and Chou lead the way on Day One of the Ron Moore Intercollegiate
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DENVER, Colo. – On a cloudy, slightly rainy day at the Highlands Ranch Golf Club, Kansas moved up the leaderboard of the 15-team field on Day One of the Ron Moore Intercollegiate thanks to a balanced team effort led by a pair of Jayhawks who finished the day tied for fifth place in freshman Pear Pooratanaopa and junior Yi-Tsen Chou. As a team, KU shot a 3-over 291, good for a second place finish in the opening round action.
Pooratanaopa led the charge early for the Jayhawks as she birdied her first hole of the day and continued with another on No. 17 to finish at 2-under on the back nine. She added another birdie along with a bogey and double bogey, but steady play throughout the course helped balance out her score as she finished even on the day. Chou was right there with Pooratanaopa as she tallied three birdies of her own on her way to also finishing even for Day One.
Seniors Ariadna Fonseca Diaz and Chomchana Phuchanbanchob both had solid outings on the day as Diaz recorded three birdies on her way to finishing at 3-over on the day. Phuchanbanchob currently sits in 11th place as she stayed even on the front nine, while carding two birdies of her own.
Junior Sera Tadokoro couldn’t find her footing as a handful of bogeys kept her from gaining any momentum. Tadokoro completed the first round of play 5-over. Redshirt freshman Aristelle Acuff made her collegiate debut by finishing 7-over par. She currently sits in a tie for 74th place.
The team fired an impressive 14 birdies in the opening round, with Poortanaopa leading the way with four and Chou also carding three.
QUOTES
HEAD COACH ERIN O’NEIL
Q: What are your initial thoughts on how the team played today?
ERIN O’NEIL: Overall, we played very steady as a group which was great to see. Course management was better as we only had one double bogey out of the five. However, we can still improve on our putting since most of the shots we gave away came from 3-putts.
Q. What needs to be improved heading into day two?
ERIN O’NEIL: We are in a great position heading into tomorrow. The goal will be to stick to our game plan for the course and focus on the process of each shot. We need to trust that the results will take of themselves. The weather is supposed to be cooler the next two days, but shouldn’t be anything we can’t handle.
NOTES
- Freshman Pear Pooratanaopa carded four birdies in the opening round, the most in her young college career.
- 291 ties the best round score so far this season, which they matched earlier at the Minnesota Invitational.
UP NEXT
Kansas will return to action on Saturday for day two of the Ron Moore Intercollegiate. Follow the live updates here.
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