2023 San Marcos Shootout (First Round)

TEMECULA, Calif. – Round one of the 2023 San Marcos Shootout is in the books for Academy of Art women's golf with ART U in a tie for seventh place, combining for a 33-over-par 321 on Monday thanks to a trio of Urban Knights tying for 18th place with a 6-over-par 78. 

Each of freshman Nicole Yang, junior Valeria Ruiz, and senior Jae Eun Park tied the best ART U round of the day with their 6-over, though only Yang and Ruiz counted towards the ART U team score with Park playing independently. For Yang, she dropped birdies on the third and seventh hole to help her make the turn at just 1-over before adding five pars on the back nine. Ruiz had an up-and-down front nine that did include a pair of birdies on the second and eighth holes, and then was much more steady in her second half of the day with a birdie on the 15th to close the back nine at 1-over (three birdies tied for tournament field lead). While Park did tally a birdie on the second hole, she finished each of her nine holes at 3-over with a total of 11 pars (most in an ART U round). 

Rounding out the scoring for Academy of Art thus far is freshman Maddie Elias in a tie for 32nd place, as she matched Park's 11 pars while carding a 9-over-par 81. Tying for 42nd place was junior Napat "Plern" Rattanaprakarn with a 12-over-par 84, though she overcame a slow start on the front nine by logging seven pars on the back nine where she was just 2-over. 

The Urban Knights find themselves locked into seventh place along with Northwest Nazarene, though they both trail tournament leader Simon Fraser as the Red Leafs combined for a 12-over-par 300, which gives them just a four-stroke lead over second place and top Pacific West Conference team Point Loma (16-over-par 304). The Sea Lions also boast the top individual performer thus far in the tournament field in Alli Kim, as she was the only golfer to record an ever-par 72 though she does hold just a one-shot lead over Sueah Park of SFU. 

The 2023 San Marcos Shootout will conclude with round two tomorrow, as ART U first tees off at 8:40 a.m.