Sept. 8, 2008

Alamosa, Colo.- The defending champion West Texas A&M University Lady Buffs have the top four and six of the top eight individual golfers in the individual standings and have built a 25-stroke lead over the rest of the teams in the field after the first round of the 2008 Grizzly Invitational women's golf tournament.

Played at the Cattails Golf Course in Alamosa, Colo., the Lady Buffs had four players, two of which were playing individually, card rounds of 80 or below and finished with a team score of 326 on the par-71 track that played at 5,809 yards in beautiful and sunny weather conditions.

The Lady Buffs, who won last year's Grizzly Invitational/RMAC #3 tournament by three shots over Western New Mexico University, were placed by freshman Amanda Davidson's 6-over par round of 77. Davidson, who led the field in pars with 12 and par-4 scoring with an average of 4.11, is competing individually and thus did not figure into WTAMU's team score. However, junior Whitney Osborne and Hammerli Sriyai, another Lady Buff freshman, did and posted scores of 78 and 80, respectively, to lead the WTAMU charge. Lady Buff senior Lacy Torbert, also playing individually is tied for third with Sriyai. Iowa Western's Candace Harless and Regis' Alex Semanko are tied for fifth after each posted rounds of 83. West Texas A&M freshman Sara Coe and junior Mollie Peterson, the 2007 Grizzly Invitational medalist are two shots further back after posting rounds of 85 and tied for seventh. Ives and Regis' Mollie Peterson are tied for ninth at 86.

Tuesday's second and final round will begin at 8:30 a.m. with groups teeing off from both the fourth and 10th holes. Osborne, Semanko and Ives will play the tenth hole at 8:50 a.m. in one of the featured pairings.