Women's Golf Shines In Opening Round At Rio Verde Intive

RIO VERDE, AZ - - The Ball State women's golf team got off to a hot start in the desert, with both freshman Sophie Korthuijs and junior Jasmine Driscoll finishing their opening rounds in red numbers on the opening day of the Rio Verde Invitational.

Korthuijs is currently tied for third overall at -2 (70), while Driscoll is one shot behind her teammate in a tie for seventh at -1 (71). Their combined effort has the Cardinals currently in fourth among the 21-team field with a score of +5 (293).

"Sophie played some excellent golf today," head coach Cameron Andry said. "She has worked extremely hard over the winter to clean up the areas of her game that held her back in the fall and her hard work was evident today. She was in complete control of her game today and had a chance to shoot an even better score if a few more putts had dropped."

After opening her round with four straight pars, Korthuijs made back-to-back birdies on the par-4 11th and par-5 12th to get into red number. She added her third birdie of the round on the par-5 17th and finished with pars on six of her final seven holes to stay two strokes off the overall held held by Pusanisa Ekkantrong of Cal Baptist at -4 (68).

Driscoll started her round with eight straight pars before earning her first of three birdies on the 12th. After playing the next five holes at +2, Driscoll answered with back-to-back birdies on the par-4 18th and par-4 first, before ending her day with a pair of pars.

"It was great to have Jasmine back and healthy," Andry said. "She's just a talented player with a good mentality so it's not surprising for her to fire another red number."

Junior Sarah Gallagher opened her round with three straight pars before countering a bogey with a birdie on the par-4 ninth. She then strung together 12 straight pars and closed the round with a bogey to move one over.

"Sarah did what Sarah does," Andry added. "Her ball-striking wasn't great today, but she has such a creative short game that she can figure out ways to score even when her ball-striking isn't great."

Rounding out the lineup for the Cardinals were junior Madelin Boyd at +7 (79) and sophomore JJ Gregston at +8 (80). Boyd carded two birdies and nine pars in her round, while Gregston added one birdie and nine pars.

"I was proud of the way Maddy battled back after a rough start," Andry said. "She never let go of the rope, hung in there and rolled in a 12-footer on the last hole to card that 79 which was big for us. JJ just had one of those days when things just never quite aligned. She couldn't capitalize on her good shots and her poor shots seemed to always cost her. She'll bounce back tomorrow, I'm confident."

Ball State Individual Results
T-3rd - Sophie Korthuijs: -2 (70)
T-7th - Jasmine Driscoll: -1 (71)
T12th - Sarah Gallagher: +1 (73)
T-75th - Madelin Boyd: +7 (79)
T-84th - JJ Gregston: +8 (80)

Top 5 Teams
1st - Cal Baptist: -5 (283)
2nd - Illinois State: +1 (289)
3rd - Xavier: +4 (292)
4th - Ball State: +5 (293)
5th - Ohio: +8 (296)

Women's Golf Shines In Opening Round At Rio Verde Intive

Players Mentioned

Madelin Boyd

Jasmine Driscoll

Sarah Gallagher

JJ Gregston

Sophie Korthuijs

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