HOCKLEY, Texas- Arizona and Iowa State are tied at +1 through the first of three rounds at the Big 12 Women’s Golf Championship. Three golfers are tied at the top of the individual leaderboard with open-round 69s at Houston Oaks Country Club and Retreat.
 
Arizona’s Carolina Melgrati, K-State’s Carla Bernat and Houston’s Maelynn Kim each navigated the par 71 / 6,259-yard track at two under par, each tied for the lead. Both the team and individual winners of the event receive automatic bids to NCAA Regionals.
 
Melgrati birdied four of her first 10 holes to lead the Wildcats in round 1. Three Arizona golfers rank in the event’s top 10, including Melgrati and Nena Wongthanavimok, who signed for a 1-under 70.
 
Iowa State was led by a pair of 70s, from defending individual co-champion Karisa Chul-Ak-Sorn and Nichakorn Pinprayoon.
 
Houston sits in third place at +4, lifted by Kim’s five birdies, which co-led the tournament through 18 holes. Oklahoma State is fourth at +5, followed by a fifth-place tie between UCF and TCU at +9.
 
Bernat, who is fresh off a victory at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, was bogey-free through 15 holes on the way to an opening-round 69. Four players are tied for fourth at -1 and two more sit at even par entering Wednesday’s second round.
 
Live scoring and results are available via Clippd.