Spring Break
Bulldogs' Zamora grabs lead at UNLV Invitational
Issue date: 3/10/09 Section: Sports
Freshman Marta Silva Zamora carded a two-under 70 while playing in steady 40-50 mile-per-hour winds on Monday and grabbed a four-shot lead after the first round of the UNLV Spring Invitational. No. 8 Georgia shot 312 as a team and is tied for fourth, six shots off the lead at the Boulder Creek Golf Club.
"My guess is that if these were normal conditions Marta would have shot something like a 60," head coach Kelley Hester said. "To shot 70 today was just a great round."
Forecasts called for windy conditions, but Hester said the weather was unlike any she had ever seen.
"Almost all of the holes played into a cross wind," Hester said. "These were probably the toughest playing conditions I can remember. I can recall once or twice when we played in Texas and your hair hurt at the end of the day, but I can't remember a day when the wind was so strong all day long.
"It's not supposed to be like that tomorrow," Hester added. "Even if it's 15-20 miles per hour that would seem like nothing compared to today. This is a very scoreable golf course and hopefully we'll be able to show that tomorrow."
Silva Zamora was affected by the conditions on Monday. She started her day with seven straight pars before a birdie at No. 8. Silva Zamora three-putted for her only bogey of the day at No. 10 but quickly gained that stroke back with a birdie at No. 11 and posted another red number at No. 16.
Senior Mallory Hetzel is tied for third, five shots behind Silva after shooting a 75.
"Mallory said her 75 was the best golf round she's ever had," Hester said. "That says a lot."
The Bulldogs also counted an 81 from Carolina Andrade and an 86 from Tess Fordham and discarded Leigh Crosby's 91.
Tulsa and Texas Tech, two teams familiar with playing under windy conditions on a regular basis in practice, are tied atop the leaderboard at 306. Oregon is third at 311, followed by the Bulldogs and tourney host UNLV at 311. There's a five-shot gap between the rest of the field, with Oregon State at 317, Kent State at 319, BYU at 321 and both Fresno State and Campbell at 323 rounding out the top-10 teams.
Play continues with 18 holes on Tuesday and Wednesday. Live scoring for the event can be found at www.golfstat.com.
UNLV Spring Invitational
Boulder Creek Golf Club
Las Vegas, Nev.
Par 72; 6234 Yards
Monday's First Round Standings
Team Leaderboard
Tulsa 306
Texas Tech 306
Oregon 311
Georgia 312
UNLV 312
Oregon State 317
Kent State 319
Brigham Young 321
Fresno State 323
Campbell 323
Missouri 324
Washington 325
SMU 325
UNLV (B) 326
Coastal Carolina 330
Nebraska 330
Idaho 334
Washington State 337
Individual Leaderboard
Marta Silva, Georgia 70
Ulrika va Niekerk, Texas Tech 74
Mallory Hetzel, Georgia 75
Cathryn Bristow, Oregon 75
Kelly Fuchik, Tulsa 75
Alejandra Guancaneme, UNLV 75
Mary Mattson, Campbell 75
Whitney French, Oregon State 76
Mercedes Germino, Kent State 76
Shu-Yin Liu, Tulsa 76
Additional Georgia Scores
T39. Carolina Andrade 81
T80. Tess Fordham 86
94. Leigh Crosby 91
"My guess is that if these were normal conditions Marta would have shot something like a 60," head coach Kelley Hester said. "To shot 70 today was just a great round."
Forecasts called for windy conditions, but Hester said the weather was unlike any she had ever seen.
"Almost all of the holes played into a cross wind," Hester said. "These were probably the toughest playing conditions I can remember. I can recall once or twice when we played in Texas and your hair hurt at the end of the day, but I can't remember a day when the wind was so strong all day long.
"It's not supposed to be like that tomorrow," Hester added. "Even if it's 15-20 miles per hour that would seem like nothing compared to today. This is a very scoreable golf course and hopefully we'll be able to show that tomorrow."
Silva Zamora was affected by the conditions on Monday. She started her day with seven straight pars before a birdie at No. 8. Silva Zamora three-putted for her only bogey of the day at No. 10 but quickly gained that stroke back with a birdie at No. 11 and posted another red number at No. 16.
Senior Mallory Hetzel is tied for third, five shots behind Silva after shooting a 75.
"Mallory said her 75 was the best golf round she's ever had," Hester said. "That says a lot."
The Bulldogs also counted an 81 from Carolina Andrade and an 86 from Tess Fordham and discarded Leigh Crosby's 91.
Tulsa and Texas Tech, two teams familiar with playing under windy conditions on a regular basis in practice, are tied atop the leaderboard at 306. Oregon is third at 311, followed by the Bulldogs and tourney host UNLV at 311. There's a five-shot gap between the rest of the field, with Oregon State at 317, Kent State at 319, BYU at 321 and both Fresno State and Campbell at 323 rounding out the top-10 teams.
Play continues with 18 holes on Tuesday and Wednesday. Live scoring for the event can be found at www.golfstat.com.
UNLV Spring Invitational
Boulder Creek Golf Club
Las Vegas, Nev.
Par 72; 6234 Yards
Monday's First Round Standings
Team Leaderboard
Tulsa 306
Texas Tech 306
Oregon 311
Georgia 312
UNLV 312
Oregon State 317
Kent State 319
Brigham Young 321
Fresno State 323
Campbell 323
Missouri 324
Washington 325
SMU 325
UNLV (B) 326
Coastal Carolina 330
Nebraska 330
Idaho 334
Washington State 337
Individual Leaderboard
Marta Silva, Georgia 70
Ulrika va Niekerk, Texas Tech 74
Mallory Hetzel, Georgia 75
Cathryn Bristow, Oregon 75
Kelly Fuchik, Tulsa 75
Alejandra Guancaneme, UNLV 75
Mary Mattson, Campbell 75
Whitney French, Oregon State 76
Mercedes Germino, Kent State 76
Shu-Yin Liu, Tulsa 76
Additional Georgia Scores
T39. Carolina Andrade 81
T80. Tess Fordham 86
94. Leigh Crosby 91
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