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USC leading after round one, Garner in the middle of the pack after day one at regionals

ST. GEORGE, Utah (May 7, 2015) – Southern California is in first place and Lea Garner is tied for 39th after the first day at the 2015 NCAA Division 1 Women’s Golf St. George Regional Championships.

One of six individuals selected to participate, Garner, representing BYU, shot 78 in the first round. Shooting seven-over-par, she is tied with nine others in 39th place. 

USC is five strokes ahead of second-place team California (+9). Throughout the first round, Cal, Arkansas and UNLV battled for second place, the three teams tying at one point. At the end of the round, UNLV is in third (+17) and Wisconsin is in fourth (+19), while Arkansas dropped to seventh (+22).

“I told the team the key to our round today was to stay patient,” USC head coach Andrea Gaston said. “This is a gorgeous golf course, but it can be scary. You can make a high number out here. The wind came up and the course played a lot different today than it did in our practice round Wednesday. I thought they did a great job of being disciplined. That will be the key for the rest of the week – stay in the moment and play one shot at a time.”

Pauline Loulier from Cal is in first place individually. She shot 68 (-3) in the first round. Individual player Alivia Brown from Washington State is tied for second with Karen Chung from USC. They both shot even par in the opening round.

“I love this golf course – it’s beautiful,” Loulier said. “The wind made it difficult today, so I just tired to stay focused on my game. My putting was really good, which is the reason I scored well.”

There are multiple ties on the leaderboard after the first day. Virginia and SMU are tied for eighth (+24), while TCU and Middle Tennessee are tied for 10th (+29). At 31-over-par, San Diego State and Denver are tied for 12th. One stroke behind, Colorado and Miami are tied for 14th (+32).

The regional championships will continue with the second round on Friday at 8 a.m. MDT at the Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club.