What You Need to Know:
* Georgia State shot an opening round 297 to stand in second place following the opening round of the Bama Beach Bash.
* Sophomore Harmanprit Kaur is tied for third place with 36 holes to play after shooting a 72 on Friday.
* Four Panthers stand in the top 15 after the opening round of play.
GULF SHORES, Ala. – Led by an even-par 72 from Harmanprit Kaur, the Georgia State women's golf team stands in second-place following the opening round of the Bama Beach Bash at Gulf Shores Golf Club.
Kaur made two birdies during the opening round and just two bogeys to stand tied of third-place just three strokes off the lead.
The Panthers shot an opening round 9-over 297 to be one of just two teams to break 300 on Friday in rainy and cool conditions.
“Really proud of the way we started on Friday,” head coach Cathy Mant said. “We made a bunch of birdies today and we just need to clean up a few small things going into the weekend to really have a shot. Everyone put together some nice rounds today.”
Freshman Chloe Howard added a 1-over 73 that included three birdies to stand in a tie for seventh. Senior Paula Zabarte and redshirt-junior Emily Royer added rounds of 76 to stand in a tie for 13th at 4-over par. Sophomore Grace Choi rounded out the line-up with a 16-over 88 to stand tied for 50th.
Junior Jemima Gregson who was competing as an individual shot a 2-over 74 and is in ninth-place. Senior Yasemin Sari, also competing as an individual is tied for 32nd at 9-over par.
Host South Alabama opened the event with a 2-under 286 to hold an 11-stroke lead entering round two. The Panthers are in second-place at 9-over par, with West Florida in third at 18-over par. UAB stands in fourth-place at 20-over par with Southern Illinois rounding out the top five at 24-over par.
South Alabama's Siti Shaari shot an opening round 3-under 69 to open a one-stroke lead with 36 holes to play. Teammate Julie Hovland is in second-place at 2-under par. A group of four golfers are tied for third at even par including Kaur, Alabama State's Chanelle Avaricio, West Florida's Paloma Vaccaro and South Alabama's Kenna Hughes.
Georgia State will be paired with South Alabama and UAB for Round 2 going off Hole No. 10 starting at 10:20 a.m. ET. Live scoring of the event can be found at Golfstat.com.
Following this week's tournament, Georgia State will return home to host the John Kirk Panther Intercollegiate at Eagle's Landing Country Club in Stockbridge, Ga., March 25-27.
