Arkansas incoming junior Summar Roachell opened the 33rd annual Arkansas Women’s Golf Association Stroke Play Championship with an even-par 73 on Monday at Hot Springs Village’s Balboa Golf Course, trailing UALR sophomore-to-be Peyton Weaver by a shot.
“Summar didn’t play great today, and I know that,” Weaver said. “I know I’m going to have to shoot under par the next couple of days to win. If I just keep playing like I did today, I think I’ll be doing OK.”
Roachell ran away with last year’s championship by 25 strokes, and she showed that form out of the gate with consecutive birdies Monday. But she stumbled with a double bogey on No. 3.
“I just had a brain lapse or something,” Roachell said. “I don’t really know what happened. I dropped the ball in the hole and I had a double. I knew there were plenty of opportunities to get that back, but it was kind of unfortunate.”
Roachell returned to 2 under with birdies on the sixth and 10th, both par 5s, but struggled later in the round. A chunked chip shot on the par-5 13th led to a three-putt bogey, and a rocky lie off the 18th tee led to an approach that barely made it over the water and into the bunker. She eventually settled for a bogey.
Weaver, coming off a disappointing showing in the Arkansas State Golf Association Women’s Match Play two weeks ago at Hot Springs Country Club, was strong for nearly her whole opening round. She matched Roachell’s opening birdie and birdied Nos. 5 and 14, moving to 3 under at one point.
“I played pretty good,” said Weaver, of Bryant. “I had a threeputt and chunked a couple of my chips. It could’ve been better, but you can’t complain much when you shoot under.”
All the field was charged with making a quick adjustment this week, the AWGA opting to move the tournament to Balboa last week. The event was originally slated to be at Centennial Country Club in Conway, but Centennial lost its greens to the recent hot and dry weather.
AWGA Hall of Famer Pam Spikes of Maumelle was in third place after a 6-over 79. Heidi Rice is fourth at 80.
The second round is today followed by Wednesday’s final round.