José Marin Co-Leads After Augusta National Women's Amateur Opener

AUGUSTA, Ga. – After missing the cut at last year’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur, Arkansas junior golfer Maria José Marin carded a bogey-free 65 to grab the co-lead to open the event at Champions Retreat Golf Club (Par 72) on Wednesday morning.

The Cali, Colombia native’s 7-under result is by far her best among her nine rounds at ANWA and she is poised to make the cut (top 30 and ties) for the second time in four appearances.

José Marin paced the 72-player field alongside Korea’s Soomin Oh on the lowest scoring day in the history of the championship, with the average score at 72.22.

The junior started her day with an early tee time on the back nine of Champions Retreat and birdied every third hole to sit at T1 with Stanford commit Asterisk Talley at 3-under par.

José Marin started the second nine with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 1 and 2 (par 4s). Still tied with Talley, she parred her next five holes before another pair of birdies on Nos. 8 and 9, a par three and a par five put her in solo first.

Oh, a few groups behind Marin, entered No. 18 at 6-under and finished her round making a short putt for birdie and the co-lead on the par 5.

José Marin hit 14 of 18 fairways and all 18 greens while staying patient with her decisions.

“I think I can build a really good strategy around this place, and that’s what I did, along with my coach and my dad,” Jose Marin said. “We talked about it a lot yesterday. They told me, ‘You know the place, you know what you’re doing, just trust yourself, trust your game, and just be you.’”

José Marin’s group, which includes Stanford’s Paula Martin Sampedro (-1, T23) and past champion Anna Davis (-1, T23) from Auburn, tees off at 8:55 a.m. CT from hole No. 1 at Champions Retreat.

The top 30 and ties on the leadboard after Thursday’s second round will advance to Saturday’s third and final round at Augusta National Golf Club. The projected cut line is even.

Other Razorbacks in the field include senior Reagan Zibilski (E, T32), who sits at the cut line after four birdies and four bogeys, and freshman Sara Brentcheneff (+5, T63) with six bogeys and a birdie on her final hole.

Zibilski’s group will tee off at 7 a.m., the earliest, followed by Brentcheneff at 7:58, both off of No. 10.

Golf Channel’s live coverage of the second round begins at 12:30 p.m. CT.

For more information on Arkansas women’s golf, follow @RazorbackWGolf on social media.