Blumenherst Opens With One-Under-Par, 70, At Stanford Invitational

Friday, October 17

Palo Alto, Calif.

All Day

Duke University

Day One

Blumenherst Opens With One-Under-Par, 70, At Stanford Invitational

10/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf

By: Duke Sports Information

STANFORD, Calif. ? Duke University senior Amanda Blumenherst carded a one-under-par, 70, on Friday in the first round of the Stanford Intercollegiate, while the Blue Devils opened eight shots off the lead through 18 holes at the Stanford Golf Course in Palo Alto, Calif.

Leading the team standings after day one is UCLA, who turned in a seven-under-par, 277. Oklahoma State (278), Southern California (279), Stanford (279), Arizona (282), Arkansas (282), New Mexico (282), California (284) and Duke (285) rounded out the top nine squads. As a team, the Blue Devils collected 13 birdies.

“If you look at the scoreboard, we are not very far off at all,” said Duke Assistant Coach Jan Dowling. “We had a few [golfers] come on strong the last couple of holes. We started to make some birdies and overall our back nine was great. A few more putts to drop and we are right there. Tomorrow and Sunday the sky is the limit -- there are a lot of birdies out there.”

A native of Scottsdale, Ariz., Blumenherst produced a solid round of golf on the day as the senior parred her first 12 holes before suffering a three-putt bogey on No. 13. The three-time reigning National Player of the Year rebounded on the next three holes with a par, and two birdies.

“I played solid and hit the ball really well,” said Blumenherst. “I just didn't make any putts at the beginning, which was frustrating. I made some coming in so I guess I was just getting the speed down. Definitely on the front side I wasn't hitting it hard enough. So just getting the speed down the next two days we should be great.”

Blumenherst finally was able to roll in a couple of putts on No. 15 and No. 16 and she drained a 12-footer and 15-footer on back-to-back holes to move to one-under-par. She collected a key up-and-down par on the tough 165-yard, par three 17 before closing with a par on No. 18. She is tied for 13th, individually, going into day two.

In the individual standings, Oklahoma State's Caroline Masson posted a day one total of six-under-par, 65, to take the early lead, while Southern California's Lizette Salas is second with a 66.

Mina Harigae, who is from Monterey, Calif., which is only 90 minutes away from Stanford, posted the best start of the day for the Blue Devils. The freshman rang off five straight pars before notching three consecutive birdies on No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8. She closed the front nine with a par and was three-under-par on her way to the back nine. Harigae parred the first four holes on the back and then turned in a bogey on the 14th, but came back to collect a birdie on the next hole to remain at three-under. She enters the second round tied for 28th.

The 2007 Women's Amateur Public Links (WAPL) champion, Harigae ran into a little trouble on the 17th as her tee shot came up short on the par three and could not get up and down for a bogey. She closed with another bogey on 18 to finish with a one-under-par, 70. Due to her threesome being over 14 minutes behind the group in front of them as they finished their round, Harigae's group was tagged with a one-stroke penalty and gave her an even-par score on the day.

Both Jennie Lee and Kim Donovan each turned in rounds of one-over-par, 71, on the day and are tied for 34th. Lee, who is from Henderson, Nev., collected four birdies and five bogeys on the day as she closed with an one-under-par back nine. A native of Hopkinton, Mass., Donovan posted two birdies on the front nine and ended with a one-over-par, 36, on the first nine holes as she had three bogeys and four pars as well. On the back nine, Donovan registered nine pars to close with a 72.

A product of Melbourne, Australia, Whitaker opened the round with one birdie, three bogeys and five pars on the front nine, but closed the final nine with a one-over-par ledger to finish with a 74. She enters the second round tied for 54th.

Playing as an individual, junior Yu Young Lee turned in her career best round on Friday as she posted an even-par 71. Lee, who is from Orlando, Fla., started her round on the back nine and played her final 12 holes at three-under-par to finish with an even par ledger. Her previous 18-hole best was 74, which occurred this year at the Mason Rudolph Women's Championship. She is tied for 28th after day one.

Duke will tee off on Saturday morning beginning at 11:30 a.m. (EST) along with Arkansas and California.

-d-u-k-e-