The first round of stroke play for the 57th California Women’s Amateur Golf Championship at La Cumbre Country Club on Monday closed with a two-way tie for the lead and a Santa Barbara local one stroke behind.
With San Diego’s Mayumi Umezu and Rocklin’s Kaylyn Noh knotted at four-under-par for first place, Dos Pueblos High alum Gabby Minier finished her round three-under-par. Minier is tied with Dianna Lee of San Diego.
Minier’s round included birdies on the fourth, sixth and 16th holes.
“I felt pretty good out there because I’ve played here so many times,” Minier said. “Having the support of everyone here really helped and having my caddy on the bag was great, we were on the same wavelength for sure.”
After graduating from Dos Pueblos in 2019, Minier played the last four years at Colorado State. She will be furthering her education and golf career at CSU Fullerton next year.
“Coming back home after being in Colorado for a while is great,” Minier said. “They’ve never really hosted many tournaments in Santa Barbara and being here and being able to sleep in my own bed is pretty nice.”
The championship consists of 156 players and is open to all female amateur golfers with a handicap index of 7.4 or less.
“The competition out here is really strong, there are quite a few college golfers and a lot of mid-amateurs who can really play their ball and I’m glad to say I’m at the top of the leaderboard right now,” Minier said.
Of the 156 competitors, 16 are under par while five are even after the first day of play. The second round of stroke play will be on Tuesday with the following rounds throughout the week, ending with the Championship match on Saturday.
“I’m going to just go out and do the same thing again tomorrow,” Minier said of her mindset for the rest of the week. “I’m going to try not to overthink it and do all of the same stuff going forward.”
