Samantha Bruce started like a house on fire with a career-best eight-under-par 64 but went cold in the afternoon with 73 to slip into a tie for fourth spot in the Green Wave Fall Classic at the Bayou Oaks at City Park’s south course in New Orleans, California Monday.
Bruce, top gun of Seattle University, nailed an eagle and knocked in seven birdies against a lone bogey to seize the first-round lead on 8-under in the morning.
After a short break, she returned to shoot 1-over and fade to 7-under, five shots behind Nebraska’s Kelli Strand.
Bruce, priming up for the second stage of the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour Q-School next month, started with back-to-back bogeys from the fourth hole and bogeyed three straight holes from 8 to go 5-over for the day.
She stopped the bleeding with a birdie on 11 and took another bogey on 13 before finishing with four birdies in the last seven holes.
Seattle slipped five notches to 10th spot on 10-over 586, 33 shots behind frontrunning Nebraska.
Over in South Carolina, Tomi Arejola stumbled with a triple bogey but hung on to post a second-straight one-under-par 70 at the start of the Golfweek Fall Challenge at the Caledonia Golf and Fish Club in Pawley’s Island.
Arejola strung up three birdies from the fifth hole and added another on 10 before dropping three shots on the par-four 12th.
She made a bad approach, her ball ending up in a sidehill, downhill lie.
“I mishit it over to the trees, got on in four then three-putted. Missed a two-footer for double,” Arejola recalled her misadventure.
She went on to make two more birdies against two bogeys that included 18 where she missed another two-footer for par.
“I’ve been having yips. Yesterday, I missed a 2-footer for par because of that. A lot of my putts couldn’t start on line because I was so nervous,” she said.
The Filipina moved to 2-under after 36 holes, good for a tie for 11th, and helped Campbell University wrest the lead in the team division on 12-under 556, seven shots ahead of Austin Peay State.
Samantha Dizon and Sofia Chabon, the other Filipinas playing for California Baptist, lagged in the standings.
Dizon shot a 75, making only two birdies against six bogeys while Chabon carded a 76 behind three birdies against three bogeys and a double bogey.
California Baptist is running joint 13th in the team event.
Meanwhile, Brianna Navarrosa made 14 straight pars before things got interesting. She bogeyed 15, birdied 16, bogeyed 17, and closed her round with a par.
A one-over-par 73 gave Navarrosa a 36-hole total of 4-over-par 148 in the Branch Law Firm/Ding McGuire Invitational at the UNM Championship course in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The 19-year-old daughter of former Filipino tennis champion Ringo climbed 15 notches to a share of 34th spot, 13 shots behind leader Mayka Hoogeboom of Kent State.
