BRYAN, Texas - The No. 20 Texas A&M women's golf team fired a 23-over-par Sunday and sits in fifth place after the first round of the 17th Texas A&M "Mo"Morial Invitational at Traditions Golf Club.
The Aggies sit 15 strokes back of leader Auburn, who shot an 8-over-par 296. The 18th-ranked Tigers have a three-stroke lead over the No. 23 Texas (299, +11) and Kentucky (299, +11), who are tied for second place.
Florida State (+21) is in fourth place and UTSA (+23) trails the fifth-place Aggies by two strokes. Oklahoma and North Texas are tied for seventh at 27-over, while No. 24 Tulane (+29), Coastal Carolina (+30), Texas A&M's B team (+33) and No. 19 Michigan State (+33) round out the field.
"It was the first round of the first tournament and we had some dust on the clubs in terms of being competitively sharp," said A&M head coach Trelle McCombs. "We did have some good things - when we made big numbers we bounced back with some birdies. We have to work our way back into that competitive mindset and put together a really good round tomorrow."
Sophomore Katerina Ruzickova led the Aggies and is tied for sixth with a 2-over-par 74, while junior Susy Grunden carded a 6-over 78 and is tied for 20th. Junior transfer Mary Michael Maggio contributed a seven-over 79 and is tied for 31st, while junior Sarah Beth Davis, junior Aly Smith, freshman Kirby Kramer and sophomore Janelle Lysack each turned in an 8-over 80 and stand in a tie for 37th. Sophomores Chelsea Mocio and Natalie Reeves shot a nine-over 81 and are tied for 46th and freshman Patricia Garcia is tied for 54th after an opening round 82.
The golf course played tough on Sunday with an average individual score of 79.04.
Auburn's Carlie Yadloczky and Kentucky's Ashleigh Albrecht lead the pack after totaling a 2-under 70, which tied for the lowest first round in the history of the "Mo"Morial.
The "Mo"Morial continues at Traditions on Monday morning. Round two gets underway at 8 a.m. and admission is free of charge.
The Aggies A team is scheduled to tee off beginning at 8:18 a.m. from the first hole and will be paired with Florida State and UTSA. A&M's B team is set to tee off starting at 8:09 a.m. from the 10th hole and will play alongside Coastal Carolina and Michigan State.
Fans can follow the action with live scoring through golfstat.com.