SAN ANTONIO — UTSA senior Camryn Carreon is in a tie for third place after the opening day of the NCAA San Antonio Regional, which teed off Monday at TPC San Antonio's Oaks Course (par 72/6,420 yards).
Carreon fired a 1-under-par 71 to put herself in contention for a second straight trip to the NCAA Championships, which will be held May 19-24 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. With 36 holes remaining, the senior from San Antonio shares third place with BYU's Allysha Mae Mateo and UCLA's Caroline Canales, one shot off the pace of 2-under par set by UCLA's Zoe Campos and Oklahoma State's Thitaporn Saithip.
Starting on the 395-yard, par-4 10th, Carreon got up and down from a greenside bunker to save par. She then birdied the 370-yard, par-4 11th before posting back-to-back pars on Nos. 12-13.
Carreon registered her second birdie of the day on the 471-yard, par-5 14th before settling for a bogey on the next hole. The Incarnate Word High School graduate then closed her first nine holes with three pars in a row, including sinking an 18-foot putt on No. 18 after having to take a penalty drop when her second shot went into a water hazard.
Carreon was steady to finish out her opening round, as the first-team All-Conference USA performer wrote down par on each hole on the front side of the course, which also hosts the annual Valero Texas Open on the PGA TOUR. In fact, she closed with 12 pars in a row and leads the field with 15 through the first 18 holes.
As one of only five golfers to post a red number on the first day, Carreon has a one-shot advantage over a quintet of players who are tied for sixth at even par. She will be paired with Mateo and Kansas State's Haley Vargas on Tuesday and that group will tee off from No. 1 at 8:55 a.m.
In the 12-team race, No. 22 Oklahoma State and sixth-ranked Texas A&M are tied for first at 7-over par, followed by No. 27 SMU in third (+8) and a tie for fourth (+10) between No. 31 UCLA and No. 42 New Mexico.
The top five teams and the low individual not on an advancing team from each regional site will advance to play in the national championships.
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