SAN MARCOS, Calif. --- Despite playing its tournaments exclusively in Southern California and Arizona the common theme to the start of the Biola Men's and Women's Golf Seasons has been crazy weather at tournaments.
That commonality continued on Monday morning and afternoon as the two teams competed at the CSU San Marcos Fall Classic. The women played 18 holes and Twin Oaks Golf Club, while the men got in two full rounds at wet and wild Vista Valley Country club.
"The common theme of our tournaments this year is extreme weather and it continued today," said Men's Golf Head Coach
Max Allen. "Rain was off and on nearly the whole day in our area with lightning storms. Play was delayed three times but we managed to get all 36 holes in."
The guys shot a 319 in the first round and 310 in the second round to find themselves in 14
th place on the leaderboard following the first full day of golf. The women shot their best round of the season so far, a 320, to find themselves in fifth place with 18 holes to play.
Both teams have room to maneuver up the leaderboard with a strong final 18 on Tuesday. The women are in the clubhouse at +32 and are just 12 shots back from third place and 14 back from second. The guys are within 21 strokes of a fifth place spot, which Allen believes is makeable with a strong, consistent final day of golf.
"If these guys play to their potential they will overcome that deficit and then some," said Allen. "The guys in the first round made some uncharacteristic mistakes. We had several shots go out of bounds and into the hazards. This course has many places where you cannot miss and that affected their mentality."
Jenny Zhang led Biola with a 74 (+2) in the opening round. The first-year Eagle shot a 74, which is a new season-low by five strokes, and is tied for fifth on the individual leaderboard. The key to her round was a strong run of scoring from hole six through hole 10 that featured a birdie and four pars.
The men's individual leader was
Kyle McAbee. The sophomore big hitter posted a first round 75 followed by a second round 77 to end the day with a clean +10 on the scoreboard and sit tied for 20
th overall.
Samuel Shih was not too far behind him with rounds of 79 and 76 (+13 overall). The sign of a deep, competitive field is that even though there is just a three-stroke difference in scoring, the two men are separated by 19 positions on the leaderboard.
"Neither player had their best stuff but they had some tough luck on the greens. Because of the speed and dramatic slopes the putts were lipping out," said Allen. "I would look for them to be low tomorrow because they feel the course owes them and with a better understanding of how to play this course it is going to be to their advantage tomorrow."
Both players are off to strong starts to the season with each shooting six rounds in the 70s and just one round in the 80s through the team's first seven rounds of competition.
Back to the women's side, keeping the Eagles competitive on the leaderboard were strong first rounds from
Tori Roeske (76 – T10th) and
Bella Larson (83 – T35th). The fact that Biola's top-3 scorers were all first-year players has got to be encouraging for Head Coach
Jane Carr.
Also scoring for the women was
Lauren Van Horn (87 – T49th) and the team's fifth was
Mary Karnazes (93 – 63
rd). The men had
Austin Bishop (158 – T48th),
Dominic Ariondo (164 – T67th) and
Tristan Ginkel (175 – T83rd).
Kaden Page also competed in the men's tournament. He was a sixth golfer from Biola and competed as an individual. He recorded an 85 and an 80 to find himself in a tie for 70
th. He was the lowest scoring unattached golfer on Monday.
"This is an acclimation experience for Kaden. College golf is more than just the rounds but the preparation and post - round processing of the competition. This will give him some confidence for tournaments next semester," said Allen.
Both teams are back at it early on Tuesday for 18 more holes of competition for their respective tournaments. Check back here tomorrow afternoon for full results and recap.
