Wildcats tie for 8th after first round

Leigh-Anne Brown Arizona Daily Wildcat Junior golfer Derek Gillespie sinks a put at day one of the PING Arizona Classic played at the Raven Golf Course yesterday. Gillespie was leading the tournament at six strokes under par.

The Wildcats posted respectable numbers and ended the first round of 18 holes tied for eighth place among the 18 other universities participating. UA finished its first day of this 6,882-yard course with a combined score of 291, trailing the leaders, Washington and the favored Houston Cougars, by seven strokes.

A highlight for the Wildcats was the score of junior Derek Gillespie, who finished his first 18 holes of golf in first place with an impressive score of 66, six strokes under par. Gillespie shares the leader spot with UC Irvine's Mike Lawrence and UCLA's Jason Semelsberger. UA also got low scores from freshman Damian Hale and junior Mark Manwaring, both at 72.

UA head coach Rick LaRose explained he was pleased with his team's play on the front nine holes of the Raven, but a bit concerned with their results on the back nine.

"I am happy with a lot of our scores today, but I'm also displeased with our (lack of) consistency," he said.

LaRose did express his delight with the pleasantly surprising scores from members of the second squad.

"We are really thankful for the play of our secondary team, Tim Weiss, Mark Manwaring and Damian Hale all posted good numbers," LaRose said, "but it's just the first round and hopefully we'll find the right line-up by the end of this."

The tournament will finish play today beginning at 8 a.m. at the Raven.