Story, photo courtesy of Epson Tour
HARRIS---Epson Tour rookie Kaleiya Romero shot a 7-under-par 65 during the opening round of the Island Resort Championship presented by Delta County Chamber on Friday afternoon, highlighted by both an eagle and her first-ever tournament hole-in-one.
The 23-year-old, who has made the cut in all nine of her starts this season, paired her spectacular eagle and ace with four birdies and a single bogey to put herself at the top of the leaderboard. The stellar round follows a runner-up finish at last week's Great Lakes Championship at the Highland's.
"Yeah, well my approach shots have been pretty good the last few tournaments and I don’t know what happened but two of them went in the hole today," Romero said. "So yeah, I mean I hit good shots and then they like disappeared."
The highlight of the day came on the par-3 12th hole, where Romero used an 8-iron to secure the first ace of her tournament career. Earlier in the round, she carded an eagle on the par-4 5th hole by holing out from 140 yards from the rough using a 9-iron. Romero noted she was able to watch both remarkable shots drop.
"The hole-in-one, because this is my first hole-in-one in a tournament," Romero said when asked which milestone was more exciting. "I was still super hyped about the 140, because it was from the rough, but first hole-in-one at a tournament, so I was super excited."
