Desert Mountain welcomed an international field of 144 golfers to their beautiful Outlaw Course for the 111th Southwestern Amateur Championship. 72 men and 72 women teed off in the first round on Wednesday under sunny skies and light breezes.
Playing in the morning wave, three women tied for the lead with 5-under 67s, including Agustina Gómez, who lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina but represents Chile in international competition. Starting steady with a string of four pars, Gómez found another gear, running off four birdies in a row and making the turn at four under.
“Off the tee, I was very solid. I think that’s the main key for what my round was like today,” said Gómez, who played collegiately at Louisville before graduating in 2023. “Being in the fairway gives you a big chance of making birdies and my putter was really working today.”
As for whether her position on the leaderboard will affect her approach with three rounds remaining, Gómez indicated that it is too early in the tournament.
“I’m trying not to think about anything result-wise. So trying to keep playing my game and continue to do what I’m doing, which is working out pretty good.”
San Tan Valley, Ariz., native Alexis Vakasiuola, coming off an all-conference freshman season at Grand Canyon University, hit all 18 greens in regulation, yielding a bogey-free 67 to tie the lead.
“Honestly, it was just solid today. I kind of felt like I wasn’t trying at all,” said Vakasiuola. “I didn’t even realize what I was doing until I finished, but it was really good.”
Starting on the 11th hole, Vakasiuola’s round was kickstarted by an eagle on the par-5 13th.
“I had 230-ish to the green. I hit my three wood, and I knew I hit it solid, but I couldn’t see where it was from there. And then we get up to the green and it’s literally a tap in.”
With seven birdies on the day, Grace Anderson of Burlington, Ont., Canada, achieved the highest birdie count of the leaders. After an admittedly shaky start on hole one, Anderson stuck to her game plan and reminded herself of her talent: “I know I’m a good putter,” said Anderson. “So from then on, I just focused on my routine, focused on process, wasn’t caught up in the results and just trusted my training.”
The leaderboard is compact, with three players one shot back at four under, four more players two shots behind, and a total of 19 players under par.
Among those at four under is Mia Clausen, of Carlsbad, Calif., one of four members of the U.S. National Junior Team in the field this week. She is joined by Addison Klonowski of Naples, Fla., a rising junior at the University of Florida, and Eleonore Aernouts of France, who was the Ohio Valley Conference Player-of-the-Year at the University of Arkansas Little Rock.
Of the leaders, Clausen (T12 last year) and Klonowski (T9 in 2024) have the most experience on the Outlaw Course.
The men played in the afternoon wave at Desert Mountain, and while there were plenty of low scores, one player stood out: RJ Arone of Las Vegas, Nev., who took a three-shot lead after a 9-under 63 that featured 10 birdies.
“We were really just having a good time out there”, said Arone, a rising junior at the University of Michigan coming off a solid sophomore season in which he started every event and had eight top-20 finishes.
Despite the adrenaline and temptation to speed up, pacing—and having fun—was the name of the game for Arone on day one. “We took our time on a lot of shots. We were the last one to hit pretty much every time, which is new for me. I’m usually quick, but I enjoyed our time out there.”
The “we” would be RJ and his good buddy, Tanner, who was on the bag. The duo road-tripped together from Las Vegas and stayed calm and composed throughout the round. Arone joked, “We didn’t talk about golf once.”
Two players are three shots back after 6-under 66s: Brooks Simmons of Dallas, Tex. and Xing Luo of Shanghai, China. Simmons came out firing, going 7 under on his first 10 holes. When asked how he was able to keep the momentum going throughout his round, the rising University of Texas sophomore shared: “I just kind of focused and stayed where I was. Couldn’t think about my score. Hole by hole.” Going forward, Simmons hopes to hit his irons a little closer and if he can do that, he will be in strong contention for the top position on the leaderboard.
Luo carded seven birdies in the opening round, including on his final three holes. Just a couple of weeks ago, Luo played in the National Golf Invitational at Ak-Chin Dunes and was excited to return to Arizona.
“The biggest thing about desert golf is you’ve got to play under the heat and your ball goes about 15, 20 yards longer than usual, so I just got to be prepared for that and I think I did a really good job on that.”
Though the recent University of North Alabama graduate’s college career has ended, Luo isn’t ready to move on: “I actually got my college shirt with me this week and I told myself if I want to wear my college shirt one more time. I have to make the cut so hopefully something good happens tomorrow then I earn my privilege to wear my college shirt again.”
Brayden Forte, one of the top junior golfers from the state of Colorado and a San Diego State commit, holds the fourth-place position after a 5-under 67. Another Aztec, recent graduate Tyler Kowack of San Diego, Calif., is at four under alongside Max Thomas of Rocklin, Calif., and Cal State Sacramento.
Despite a slow start, Kowack put together a round that positions him well going into day two: “I got to hole eight and spun it back to a couple feet and it just took one putt going in to kind of get some momentum and I didn’t look back.”
2025 Southwestern Amateur champion Hartej Grewal is in good position to chase a repeat after carding a 3-under 69. and Kansas Jayhawk, The University of Kansas rising junior is already ahead of his pace from last year, when he opened with a 71 and going lower each round after.
Play resumes Thursday in the reverse order, with the men in the morning wave and the women in the afternoon. After the second round, each field will be cut to the low 36 players and ties, with all players teeing off in the morning for the final two rounds Friday and Saturday.