Throughout the Lady Puerto Rico Classic, it was true freshman Chonlada Chayanun who led the ISU women’s golf team in every round — the first time a freshman had done so since fall semester.

Chayanun has been the leading Iowa State scorer twice before in the fall.

Coach Christen Martens said Chayanun has grown throughout the fall semester, and she is starting to get back to where she was then.

“[Chayanun] struggled for a bit in the later tournaments in the fall,” Martens said. “She has worked hard in practice and her results from Puerto Rico show that the practice paid off.”

Chayanun finished the tournament with 223 total strokes, three less than any other Cyclone golfer. The last time Chayanun finished a tournament as the leader of the Cyclones was back in September when she led the team at both the Dale McNamara Invitational and the Dick McGuire Invitational, the first two tournaments of the year.

Even though Chayanun led Iowa State in all three rounds, her third round was her worst of the tournament when she scored a 76. Fading in the later rounds is something that Martens said has been a problem for the team all year.

“We saw this a little last semester, but we were in seventh after the first day and we fell to [finish] ninth in the tournament,” Martens said. “So we could work on having our last rounds be as strong as our first rounds.”

After the first round of the Lady Puerto Rico Classic, the Cyclones sat in a tie for seventh overall in the tournament. After the second round they had fallen from seventh to 10th overall in the tournament.

The third round was the team’s strongest when it recorded just 300 strokes for the round, allowing it to move from 10th to its eventual finishing position of ninth in the tournament.

“We had a decent first round, but our second round needed improvement,” said senior Kristin Paulson. “In the tournaments when we are facing tough competition, it really hurts to have one bad round.”

Paulson finished in a tie for 33rd at the tournament, which was the third-best score for Iowa State at the tournament.

“We all have things that we need to work on, and the next tournament is less than a week away,” Paulson said. “This week in practice will be important so we don’t repeat the same mistakes.”