Corpuz roars early

Allisen Corpuz began her campaign in the Sun Winter Classic with a one-under par 71 at the Talking Stick North Course in Scottsdale, Arizona late Monday (Manila time).

The 22-year-old American, whose father is a Filipino, sits on sixth place in a tie with three others, just two shots off the pace.

I wasn’t able to save par on a few holes, but made a lot of birdies today.

Corpuz, who played two rounds with Yuka Saso at the US Women’s Open last year, made five birdies against two bogeys and a double bogey to emerge as top scorer for the University of Southern California (USC).

“Playing solid, just making a few too many mistakes,” she said.

“I wasn’t able to save par on a few holes, but made a lot of birdies today.” Corpuz dropped two shots when she found the water on her tee shot on the par-4 11th hole.

USC, however, trails in third place in the team standings behind Oregon and Southern California.

The Trojans assembled

289 through Corpuz’s 69,

Brianna Navarrosa’s 72, Alyaa Abdulghany’s 72 and Amelia Garvey’s 74.

Oregon leads with 285, a stroke ahead of Arizona State.

Alexa Melton, competing for USC as an individual, fired a 69 to share the lead with Oregon’s Alexis Phadungmartvorkul and Emma Spitz of the University of California Los Angeles.

Tied for fourth were YuSang Hou of Arizona and Linn Grant of Arizona State on 70.

Joining Corpuz on 71 were Katherine Zhu of California, Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen of Oregon and Amanda Linner of Arizona State.