St John’s women’s golf team dominated the opening round of the 2015 Big East Championship. The Red Storm had a 15-stroke lead in the opening round of the LIU Lonnie Barton Invitational at the LPGA International Jones Course. The Red Storm finished fifth in the invitational with a total score of 640 (+64)
The Red Storm were able to finished with a team total of 302 (+14) and also have golfers in the top three individual positions in the opening round.
Head coach Ambry Bishop was very pleased with her team first round performance.
“The team played well today and took advantage of great conditions. After the excitement of Daniella’s [Castañeda] hole-in-one, she was able to play consistent all day and come in with her lowest score of the season. It was also great to see”.
“Cameron [Lambertson] play well and finish up with a 73. Anna [Kim] played consistent and battled through a stomach bug all day and Brittany [Hurst] rounded out the team scores with much better play today to help maintain a low team score.”
Freshman Daniella Castandea had a career-high round of 72 to finished on top of the leader board. About the hole-in-one, she said, “It was very exciting. I was not expecting it at all! I was really excited and it totally helped me to raise my energy and stay focused on my game during the entire round.”
Senior Cameron Lamberston also finished with a career-best of 73 (+1) in the opening round to get second place, junior Anna Kim finished third with a score of 74 (+2) and Brittany Hurst had an 83 (+11), a career-high to end the day tie for 40th overall. Lindsey Oliva had a 100 (+28), good for 83rd overall in her collegiate debut for St John’s.
Overall the Red Storm had three players finished in the top-10 with senior Cameron Lamberston tied for sixth with a score of 154 (+10), Anna Kim and Daniella Castandea tied for eighth overall with a score of 155 (+11), Brittany Hurst had a score of 177 (+33) to tied her for 64th, and Lindsey Oliva finished with a score of 193 (+49) good for 82nd.
Head Coach Bishop on her team’s overall performance:
“We had a nice open to our tournament with yesterday’s round. The team this year hasn’t really been in the position we were in going into today’s round, so it was a good learning experience. Overall we had some positives to take out of the week, but we will be able to take advantage of the next few weeks to work on some things to make us more consistent”.
The Red Storm will now head to Beallsville, Maryland for the Lady Hoya Invitational at the Members Club at Four Streams during March 29-30.
