Marin and Oh share lead at 65 at Augusta National Women's Amateur
EVANS, Ga. (AP) — Arkansas junior Maria Jose Marin birdied her final two holes Wednesday for a 7-under 65 to share the lead with 17-year-old Soomin Oh of South Korea in an opening round of great weather and low scoring at Champions Retreat in the Augusta National Women's Amateur. Asterisk Talley, the 17-year-old Californian who was runner-up in the ANWA a year ago, holed a greenside bunker shot for eagle on the par-5 18th hole as she made the turn and shot 66.
The conditions were ideal, and most of the 72-player field seized on the opportunity. Eight players were at 67 or lower, and 31 players broke par. Marin, the 19-year-old Colombian who won the NCAA title last year, finished on the back and poured in an 8-foot birdie putt to get off to a much better start than a year ago, when she failed to make the 36-hole cut.
The second round Thursday is at Champions Retreat, and the top 30 and ties advance to the final round Saturday at Augusta National. All 72 players get to play at the home of the Masters on Friday. “I feel like last year ...
it was a lot of learning,” Marin said. “There was a lot of tears, and of course this tournament means a lot to me. Not making the cut, it hurt a lot.
But I learned that I’ve got to stay with my two feet on the ground, that I have to be really patient with my game, that if things are not going my way, I don’t have to push it, that I just have to wait for golf to do its thing. ” Oh, the runner-up in the Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific earlier this year, also played bogey-free. She was on the front edge of the green on the par-5 ninth, facing a 70-foot eagle chance to take the lead.