PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. – A strong performance after the turn on Sunday capped No. 15 Arizona Women’s Golf’s opening day of the Therese Hession Regional Challenge in Southern California. The Wildcats ended the first round in 10th place out of 16 teams at 10-over par as sophomore Lila Pinthier led the Cats in scoring with a 1-under round of 70. Baylor was the only team in the field to break par in Sunday’s opening round and lead the field at 2-under.
“We got off to a challenging start in the morning, but we were able to card better scores after the turn,” said head coach Laura Ianello. “I was very proud of Lilas who shot a top-10 score to lead our team on Sunday, which created some momentum moving forward to Monday’s second round. Just like last week in Mexico, I expect us to build on a strong foundation from our opening round and post even better scores in our second round.”
Arizona tallied four birdies on the front nine on Sunday before carding eight after the turn. Pinthier highlighted the team’s strong finish by sinking three birdies in her final six holes. Sophomore Carolina Melgrati finished three strokes behind Pinthier in a tie for 27th at 2-over.
The Wildcats were at their best on Palos Verde Golf Club’s shortest holes, finishing in a tie for eighth in par-3 scoring on Sunday. Pinthier paced the Cats in those successful scores by capping her opening round in second place in par-3 scoring at 2-under par.
Arizona will return to action for another 18 holes on Monday for the second round before wrapping up the event on Tuesday with the final 18 holes. Entering the second round, the Wildcats are part of a pack of seven teams in the middle of the leaderboard separated by a total of seven strokes.
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