FAYETTEVILLE — Alex Schulte played her first competitive round of golf this summer Friday, and it might have been worth the wait.

Schulte, a junior at Arkansas, has spent the bulk of her summer attending summer-school classes and rehabbing an injured back. What little time she’s had for golf Schulte has spent on becoming mentally tougher and a more efficient putter.

Those things meshed in Friday’s first round of the Arkansas Women’s Golf Association State Stroke Play Championship as Schulte took the lead with a 1-under par 71. That was good enough for a one-shot lead over Julie Oxendine and two shots better than Tanna Richard. Celeste Bobbitt (74 ) and defending champ Natalie Beach (75 ), also a junior at Arkansas, round out the top five.

Schulte’s only previous experience at this weekend’s site — Stonebridge Meadows Golf Club’s par-72, 5, 800-yard layout — was Thursday’s practice round. She was comfortable almost all the way around Friday, though, offsetting three bogeys with four birdies.

Schulte, whose last tournament round was at the NCAA Championships in May, was especially efficient on the longer holes, recording birdies on three of the four par-5 s. Schulte reached the eighth, 11 th and 18 th in two, then two-putted for birdie.

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“I was very pleased with the way I was hitting the ball, and my confidence level was up on the greens.... It definitely showed today,” Schulte said.

Richard, meanwhile, remains in control of the AWGA Player of the Year race. She entered this weekend’s tournament with 350 points, 170 more than Doris Herren, her closest competitor among the field. Oxendine is in fifth place with 160 points, followed by Beach at 150.

Thanks to her lead in the Player of the Year standings, Richard, 51, also is on track to be the AWGA’s top senior player. She won both honors last year, too, but has been more concerned with getting her game “to come together” in time for a busy fall season.

Richard is scheduled to compete in two United States Golf Association events, beginning with the U. S. Women’s Mid-Amateur in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Sept. 6-11. That will mark Richard’s 16 th appearance in that event, and she’ll make her second consecutive trip to the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur on Sept. 20-25 at Tulsa Country Club.

“I’ve just been trying to play as well as I can to get ready for the fall, to play in the USGA stuff,” Richard said of sitting atop the AWGA standings. “I haven’t won anything this year yet. I’ve just been in the top two or three each time... and I’ve played in every event.” Richard felt like she let a handful of birdie opportunities slip away Friday, but was otherwise pleased with her round. Richard had three bogeys and two birdies, including a 30-foot pitch-and-run from the fringe on the par-4 16 th.

Richard made her lone successful birdie putt on the par-4 seventh.