Oklahoma State jumps in front with fast start in Lady Puerto Rico Classic

   As successful as he was at Kent State, Greg Robertson couldn’t resist the opportunity to coach the women’s golf team at his alma mater, Oklahoma State.

   And it’s starting to look like Robertson is working the same kind of magic in Stillwater that he did in making Kent State a perennial national championship contender.

   With three players among the top six, two of them freshmen and one a sophomore, in the individual standings, Oklahoma State, No. 14 in the latest Golfstat rankings, grabbed the lead after Sunday’s opening round of the Lady Puerto Rico Classic at Rio Mar Country Club’s River Course in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.

   The Cowgirls, coming off a solid fourth-place finish in last week’s UCF Challenge in Orlando, Fla., were the only team to better par in the opening round with a 3-under-par 285 over the 6,164-yard, par-72 River Course layout.

   Lady Puerto Rico Classic host and perennial Big Ten power Purdue, behind individual leader Safat Sagoo, a freshman from India, and No. 22 Virginia Tech, out of the Atlantic Coast Conference, each matched par with a 288 and are tied for second place, three shots behind Oklahoma State.

   No. 21 Kentucky, out of the Southeastern Conference, was three shots behind Virginia Tech and Purdue in fourth place at 3-over 291. The Wildcats are coming off a strong fall portion of the 2019-2020 season, including a victory in the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational that they host.

   Purdue’s Big Ten rival Northwestern and No. 40 Georgia, Kentucky’s SEC rival, were another shot behind Kentucky in a tie for fifth place in the 15-team field at 4-over 292.

   Oklahoma State was led by two of its freshman standouts, Hailey Jones of Dallas and Isabella Fierro, the phenom from Mexico, both of whom were among three players tied for third place at 2-under 70.

   Jones is coming off a tie for fourth in the UCF Challenge and has yet to turn in a round over par in the early part of the spring portion of the 2019-’20 season. Fierro was just 16 in the summer of 2017 when she won the North & South Women’s Amateur at Pinehurst and reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at San Diego Country Club before falling to eventual champion Sophia Schubert.

   Lianne Bailey, a sophomore from England, was another shot behind her two teammates among the group of four players tied for sixth place with a 1-under 71. Bailey, too, is coming off a strong showing in the UCF Challenge, where a pair of 68s in the last two rounds enabled her to finish in a tie for second place.

   Maja Stark, a freshman from Sweden and No. 9 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), was the final counter for the Cowgirls with a 2-over 74 that landed her in the group tied for 28^th place. Rounding out the Oklahoma State lineup was Han-Hsuan Yu, a sophomore from Taiwan who struggled a little with an 8-over 80 that left her among the group tied for 67^th place.

   Purdue’s Sagoo unleashed a barrage of seven birdies to offset three bogeys and claim the lead in the individual chase at 4-under. Northwestern’s Irene Kim, a freshman from La Palma, Calif., was a shot behind Sagoo in second place with a 3-under 69.

   Joining Oklahoma State’s Jones and Fierro in the trio tied for third place at 2-under 70 was Virginia Tech’s Emily Mahar, a junior from Australia.

   A pair of Kentucky players, Jensen Castle, a freshman from West Columbia, S.C., and Rikke Svejgaard Nielsen, a junior from Denmark, joined Oklahoma State’s Bailey in the quartet tied for sixth place at 1-under 71. Rounding out that foursome at 1-under was Georgia’s Jenny Bae.