Eagles Perched Atop Leaderboard

Biola Women’s Golf is in second place at the PacWest Golf Championships after day one and freshman Sami Penor is the overall leader.

April 22, 2019

By: Brandon Taylor, Assistant Sports Information Director

ROUND ONE RESULTS

LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz. --- Biola Women's Golf had an overall great day to open up the PacWest Golf Championships at the Wigwam Golf Club on Monday. Head Coach Jane Carr's group had three women in the top-10 of the leaderboard for the majority of the day and carded three sub-80 scores to firmly plant themselves in second place with a team score of 303.

The Eagles are just three strokes behind No. 16-ranked Academy of Art after 18 holes and have the overall leader in their corner with freshman Sami Penor. Penor played an incredible stretch between holes four and 15 that dropped her score to three-under as she collected five birdies and pared the other seven holes.

The Henderson, Nevada-native shot 35 strokes on the front nine and the back to take a two-stroke lead over Point Loma's Alli Kim. It's the best single-round score from any Eagle in program history dating back to the program's inception in 2007 and helped Biola tie its sixth-best team score in program history with its 303 mark.

The Eagles have put six single-round scores in the top six positions of their record book this season. The last time they accomplished this feat was the third round of the ERAU Co-Ed Invitational on Oct. 9 when Biola also shot a 303.

Joining Penor in the top-11 of the individual leaderboard after day one are Alexis Gopfert (77), who opened her round with a birdie on one, and Jule Loibl (76), who had a great close to her first round. Loibl started the day at even-par through four holes and recorded four-straight par scores again on holes 14 through 17 before ending the day with a birdie on 18. Gopfert had the second-best front nine on the team to follow Penor with a 38 while Loibl was second-best for Biola on the back nine with a 37.

The two juniors also both placed themselves among the top-five women in the field for par scores in the first round: Gopfert had 11 par scores while Loibl collected 12.

Sophia Karnazes recorded the Eagles' final countable score with a 80. It's Karnazes' best score at the Wigwam after playing in the PacWest Championships last year and shows her continued growth because her best score at the Championships in 2018 was an 81.

Marcel Manalo will look to repeat her precedent of immediate improvement at the Championships after improving on her score with each successive round at the Wigwam last year. Manalo shot an 82 on Monday with a birdie on the par-four seven and par-five 14. But she finished the tournament with a 76 last year as the Eagles made up 12 shots on the team ahead of them on the final day.

Coach Carr's group will hope for another charge during Tuesday's second round. But this time, it'll be to create more distance from the rest of the pack and third-place Point Loma, who will begin the second round three strokes behind the Eagles.

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