April 3, 2009
Tempe, Ariz. - After day one of the PING/ASU Invitational, Stanford sits in 10th place with a score of 14-over-par 302. The Cardinal played well in the strong winds at ASU Karsten Golf Course and remain in the thick of the tournament.
No. 12 Purdue claimed the early lead with a day of 5-over-par 293. They sit one stroke ahead of host No. 2 Arizona State who fired a round of 6-over-par 294. No. 1 UCLA rounded out the top-three with a 9-over-par round of 297.
Stanford was led by Sydney Burlison and Mari Chun in a 12-way tie for eighth place after the first round. Both Burlison and Chun shot rounds of 1-over-par 73 on Friday and are three strokes off the early lead. Jodi Ewart of New Mexico and Jennifer Song of USC share the first round lead of 2-under par 70.
Both Burlison and Chun carded two birdies on their rounds and played relatively mistake free golf with only four bogeys and one double-bogey between them.
Chun is looking for her third top-10 of the season and to improve on her 42nd-place finish last year at the same tournament. Burlison is looking for the first top-10 of her young career.
The rest of the Stanford squad sits in a tie for 56th after carding scores of 6-over-par 78. Lila Barton, Rebecca Durham and Angela King will each be looking to climb up the leaderboard on Saturday.
The Cardinal will resume play on Saturday for the second round of the PING/ASU Invitational. Despite being in 10th place, the Cardinal are just nine strokes off the lead and have a chance to move up considerably in the overall standings with a strong second round.