RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The Montana women’s golf team shot rounds of 300 and 317 on Monday at the Battle at the Rock., and is tied for 12th at the Oak Quarry Golf Club. (Results)
The tournament concludes on Tuesday morning with a final 18 holes.
Butte High graduate Hailey Hoagland shot rounds of 74 and 76 and is tied for 28th, but she is the only Grizzly who was able to card a pair of scores in the 70s.
Four of Montana’s five golfers shot a higher second-round score than the one they posted in the morning.
“The biggest difference between the two rounds is we just had some putters go cold,” said coach Kris Nord. “A lot of putts we normally make, we didn’t make anything at all.
“I’m not sure what to attribute that to other than needing to play a little bit more.”
Montana opened its spring season at the Battle at the Rock a year ago as well and shot a 334 in the opening round, with nobody breaking 80.
This year the Grizzlies opened with a 300, with Hoagland and Baylee Barckley shooting 74s, Teigan Avery a 75 and Faith D’Ortenzio a 77.
“We should have been in the high 290s with a couple of putts made, so I was pleased,” said Nord. “I loved the way the girls were hitting the ball.
“For our first outdoor golf of the year, I was really impressed with how we played.”
Hoagland didn’t have anything worse than a bogey for her first two rounds of the spring and in both rounds birdied the par-5 second.
“And Hailey really didn’t make any putts in her first round,” said Nord. “She could have shot a low-70s, high-60s score.”
Senior Kari Opatz was the only Grizzly to shoot an improved score between the morning and afternoon rounds. She is tied for 55th.
After shooting an 80 in the morning, she carded a 76 in the afternoon, including back-to-back birdies on the par-5 second and par-3 third.
Barckley, who had an eagle both times she played the par-5 second, followed her 74 with an 86. Avery went from 75 to 84.
“Baylee and Teigan both put themselves close in the second round but just couldn’t capitalize with their putters,” said Nord.
D’Ortenzio, who shot her second-best round as a collegiate golfer in the morning by birdieing two of her final four holes, had scores of 77 and 81.
UC Davis, which carded scores of 285 and 294, holds the lead by six strokes over Hawaii (290-295) and eight over host UC Riverside (287-300).
UCR’s Hana Furuichi is the individual leader at 4-under, with rounds of 72 and 68. She had six birdies in her afternoon round. Seven players will go into Tuesday’s final round under par.
— Montana Sports Information
