2022 PacWest Championship (First Round)

LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz. – Academy of Art appears often at the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the Pacific West Conference Championship held at the Wigwam Golf Course, as both ART U as a squad and junior Anahi Servin sit in a tie for second place after the first 18 holes. 

Having won the individual title in each of the previous three PacWest Championship tournaments that she has entered and seeking to be the first player to ever go 4-for-4, Servin spent most of her opening round in first place before dropping a few strokes into a tie for second by day's end at 3-over-par 75. She opened the day strong thanks to a pair of birdies on her second and fourth holes to make the turn at 2-under, but would hit a rough patch on holes 13, 14, and 15. Additionally, Servin would save par on every par-3 hole she played, the best such score in the tournament field.

Also in the top 10 for the Knights is sophomore Jae Eun Park, as she currently rests in a tie for 10th place after she used a birdie on the ninth hole and saved par on each hole of the back nine, ending her first round at 5-over-par 77. Trailing slightly behind is freshman Napat "Plern" Rattanaprakarn in a tie for 13th place after she saved par a total of 13 times to finish a 7-over-par 79. Rounding out the scoring is sophomore Iveta Posledni in a tie 21st place at 10-over-par 82, who overcame a slow front nine to end with a total of seven par saves on the back nine. 

Second place is a familiar position for the Urban Knights, who finished as the runner up last year in 2021 to Point Loma, and that is where they currently sit after ART U combined for a 25-over-par 313 along with Dominican. Both schools trail the leader Biola by five strokes (20-over-par 308), but it is the Penguins who boast the tournament's current individual leader in Claire Shubin at 2-over-par 74. 

Round two of the PacWest Championship tees off tomorrow morning at 7 a.m.