Clemente and Elliott Share the Top at Six-Under After Round 1 of the 2026 IOA Golf Classic

Dottie Ardina during Round 1 of the IOA Golf Classic (Photo:  Isaiah Bell/Epson Tour)

Alaqua Country Club played every bit the part of a demanding host Friday during round 1 of the 2026 IOA Golf Classic. Cooler temperatures settled over Longwood, and the wind showed up with a chip on its shoulder — gusting across the narrow fairways and tiny greens that make this course one of the Epson Tour’s more unforgiving venues. When it was over, the field of 120 had averaged better than a stroke over par. Only a few players figured it out.

Gianna Clemente was one of them.

The 17-year-old Florida native — yes, still 17 — posted a bogey-free, 6-under 65 in the opening round of the IOA Golf Classic, sharing the top of the leaderboard with Australian Jennifer Elliott. It was Clemente’s second event as a professional. She played it like her 200th.

Clemente built her round on back-to-back birdies at holes two and three, then did it again at 12 and 13 on the way home. The back nine came in at 4-under 32. Six birdies. Zero bogeys. On a day when the scoring average was 72.508, that kind of card doesn’t happen by accident.

“I think just kind of firing on all cylinders today,” Clemente said afterward. “I feel like I’ve figured out my putting a little bit since last week, and also hit some really good wedges today. So I was able to capitalize on making some short putts, too.”

She also said she plans to stay aggressive with her irons and her putter going into Saturday — which is notable, because her plan isn’t to manage Alaqua. It’s to attack it.

Elliott, who teed off in the afternoon wave and caught calmer conditions, matched Clemente’s 65 through a different path. The 25-year-old opened with a 3-under 33, then caught fire on the back. She drained a birdie at the par-3 second, then ran off three in a row on holes five, six, and seven. Seven birdies total against one bogey.

“I just had fun out there today,” Elliott said. “Everything just kind of worked out. I could see my putting lines really well, and I was hitting them really well.”

Two shots back, Mariel Galdiano and Yue Ren sit at 5-under 66 and will have plenty to say about who’s hoisting the trophy Sunday.

Galdiano — who competed on the LPGA Tour in 2025 after earning her card through Q-Series — wasted no time. She opened with four consecutive birdies before the wind even had a chance to argue, turning at 4-under through her first five holes before signing in at 31 on her front nine. Two more birdies on the back-nine par fives cemented her round.

Ren was the first name on the leaderboard all day. The 25-year-old, who won the 2023 Circling Raven Championship, started on the back nine with a hiccup — a bogey on the par-4 10th — before reeling off back-to-back birdies at 12 and 13. Then she turned and ran. Four consecutive birdies on her final nine, capped with a closing birdie at the ninth hole.

The highlight of her round came at hole three, a par-5 that bit her just enough to set up one of the day’s better moments. “I hit a really good approach shot, but it spun off the green to like four yards,” Ren said. “I putted off the green and made that for birdie.” Considering she said she “made everything three yards and in” all day, that chip-putt combo was about as on-brand as it gets.

Five players share fifth at 4-under, including Dottie Ardina — a name Alaqua regulars know well. The Philippine veteran, who lost in a playoff here in 2023, was clean as a whistle Friday. Four birdies. Not a single bogey. She’s been here before and she knows exactly what this course asks.

“I’ve always played well on this course,” Ardina said. “It suits my game. It’s narrow and shorter, and it just suits my length.”

Also at T10 and worth watching is rookie Mirabel Ting, who sits at 3-under after hitting every fairway and posting five birdies. Ting’s sister is caddying for her this week — their dynamic, she admitted with a laugh, involves a fair amount of productive arguing — and she’s leaning into one of Alaqua’s defining features: the compact, punishing greens.

“I work better with smaller greens because I kind of like small targets,” Ting said. “Even if you hit it 20 yards left and you’re still on a green, you probably have 30-40 feet maximum. You won’t have 80-90 feet.”

Round 2 tees off Saturday at 8 a.m. local time, with the cut set to fall on the top-60 and ties after 36 holes. With the scoring bunched tight — three more players sit at 3-under — the margin for error heading into moving day is essentially nothing. In weather like this, on a course like this, that’s exactly how the Epson Tour likes it.