Bulldogs Lead Blessings Collegiate Invitational Heading into Second Round

Fayetteville, Ark. – The 11th-ranked Mississippi State women’s golf team opened up the third annual Blessings Collegiate Invitational with an exceptional first-round team performance led by a record-breaking performance by Julia Lopez Ramirez. After the first 18 holes of competition, State leads the field at 1-under par (287). The Bulldogs are nine strokes ahead of in-state rival Ole Miss at 8-over par.  
 
After opening the round with a bogey on the first hole of the day, Lopez Ramirez answered back by rattling off six straight birdies on holes 2-7 to propel State to the top of the leaderboard heading into the eighth hole. Lopez Ramirez did not look back as she continued to sink birdies adding four more on the back nine to secure her 12^th round in the 60s in the Maroon and White (65, 7-under par). Lopez Ramirez sits alone at the top of the leaderboard with six strokes separating her from second place. With Lopez Ramirez’s 7-under par first round she now holds the women’s records for Blessings Golf Club course record and Blessings Collegiate Invitational’s lowest round. Since joining the Bulldogs in 2021, Lopez Ramirez has broken two course records (63 at the 2021 Sam Golden Invitational).
 
Following Lopez Ramirez’s lead, the rest of the scorecard for the Bulldogs featured strong performances from top to bottom.
 
Competing in her third collegiate event Izzy Pellot carded her sixth straight round of par or better golf, carding an even 72. Pellot sunk 12 pars throughout the day (fifth-most) to finish tied for fourth.
 
Hannah Levi used a strong front nine that included five straight pars on holes 3-7 before adding birdies on 8 and 9 to head into the turn 1-under par. On the back nine, Levi added six more pars to work around three bogies to finish tied for 10^th at 2-over par.
 
After shooting five-over par on the front nine, Abbey Daniel made the turn and carded 1-under on the back nine to finish tied for 15^th at 4-over par.
 
Ashley Gilliam rounds out the scoring for the Bulldogs, finishing 5-over par on the day to tie for 26^th.
 
Mississippi State will return to the course for the second round of action from Fayetteville on Tuesday. State will tee off from the 10^th tee at 8:45 am. Bulldog fans can tune into live coverage from the GOLF Channel from 3:30-6:30 pm CT.

Quoting Coach Ewing
 
On the…