{"id":508523,"date":"2026-03-02T01:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T01:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/508523\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T01:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T01:47:08","slug":"womens-golf-leads-after-round-1-at-old-barnwell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/508523\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Golf Leads After Round 1 at Old Barnwell"},"content":{"rendered":"

AIKEN, S.C. \u2014 The Columbia women’s golf team fired an opening-round 1-under-par 291 and leads the 12-team field at the More Than Golf Invitational, presented by Bank of America. The first round of the three-round event was contested on Sunday at Old Barnwell.
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\nThe Lions were led by first-year duo Kristina Xu<\/a> and Emily Zeng<\/a>, who are first and second on the individual leaderboard. Xu carded seven birdies and three bogeys for a 4-under-par 69. Sitting at 1 under through 13, she birdied three of her next four holes before capping off the round with a closing par at the 375-yard 18th. Zeng was 1 over through five before birdieing the par-4 sixth and par-4 ninth to get to red numbers. She followed with five straight pars before back-to-back birdies at the par-5 15th and 16th. A bogey at the last brought her in with a 2-under 71.
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\nXu and Zeng were two of just four players in the field of 63 to shoot under-par rounds on Sunday. The par-73, 6,255-yard course’s scoring average for the day was 78.10.
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\nSophomore Sarah Shao<\/a> is tied for 14th after an opening 2-over 75. First year Bridget Chantharath<\/a>, sophomore Christine Chang<\/a> and first year Camille Thai<\/a> all shot rounds of 3-over 76, and are tied for 20th. Emily Luo<\/a> is just outside the top 25 after an opening 77.
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\nColumbia (-1) leads second-place Tulsa (+2) by three shots. Denver (+7) is another five shots behind in third, followed by Radford (+10) and Southern Miss (+11) to round out the top five.<\/p>\n

Monday’s second round begins at 10:30 a.m. The Lions will tee off in threesomes with competitors from Tulsa and Denver, beginning at 11:20.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW THE LIONS:

\nFor the latest on Columbia women’s golf, follow @CULionsWGolf on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>, and on the web at\u00a0GoColumbiaLions.com<\/a>.

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