What started as a calm day at Buffalo Dunes Golf Course quickly turned into a battle against the wind as the morning wave made the turn in the first round of the Dream First Bank Charity Classic. Despite the change in wind speed and direction, the scores did not reflect the difficulty. Sixteen players put up rounds of 68 or better and nearly half the field broke par.

Leading the way are Jennifer Elliot and Mirabel Ting, who put together the best rounds of the day at 6-under. Elliot got off to a good start, rolling in birdies on holes five and six. The bogeys did not make their way onto the scorecard for Elliot, and after making the turn, the Epson Tour sophomore went on a tear.

Four birdies in the first six holes of the back nine moved her to 6-under for the tournament, where she would stay after making three straight pars coming in. After missing the cut in her last two starts, the round she needed came on the first day in Garden City, and she will have a chance to attack the course in better conditions when she tees off tomorrow morning.

“I definitely prefer afternoon to morning just because the break in between is a little less,” explained Elliot. “I do know the wind is going to pick up a lot tomorrow afternoon as well, so I think I got the better end of the deal this week. I'm just excited to see what tomorrow brings.”

Ting has been red hot heading into the Dream First Bank Charity Classic, finishing inside the top 10 in each of her last three starts. In those three starts, she has collected a win and a runner-up, moving her to No. 3 in the Race for the Card.

Today was no different for the rookie, who found herself at the top of the leaderboard just nine holes into the tournament. The 20-year-old made five birdies on her first nine holes, before finally dropping a shot on her 12th hole of the day. It would be the only square on the card, however, as Ting added two more birdies coming in on her last two holes of the day to match Elliot in the clubhouse.

“Well, I think I came into today actually prepared and you know I actually knew that it was going to be windy. A few weeks ago, my coach from FSU actually told me to try to kind of learn how to fly my wedges again because I really could need it in Kansas this week,” said Ting. “And I kind of did a little bit of wedges last week, tried to fly that down in and it works today. And the conditions are tough today, even I think the morning and afternoon wave is still pretty tough out there and I was just staying really patient out there today.”

To add to the excitement heading into the weekend, there are currently 27 players within three shots of the lead. The first groups are off tomorrow at 7:45 a.m. local time with the top 60 and ties making it to Sunday.

Mirabel Ting and Jennifer Elliot Tied at the Top in Garden City

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