Women’s Golf Finishes 16th at Grand Canyon Invitational

Final Stats

GOODYEAR, Ariz. – The Montana State Billings women’s golf team finished 16th at the Grand Canyon Invitational Tuesday as it dropped 10 strokes from yesterday to finish with a 718 score on the par 72, 6,025-yard Palm Valley Golf Club course.  Tarleton State won the 17-team tournament wire-to-wire with a 592 score.

“We hit the ball alright, but our short game hurt us,” head coach Shawn O’Brien said.  “The good thing is we are going to play our conference course tomorrow so we have a chance to look at it before conference and we have a week to work on our short game.”

Host Grand Canyon moved up to second finishing with a 623, 36-hole team score.  Cal State Monterey-Bay finished third (625), followed by Sonoma State (627) and St. Edward’s with a 632 score to round out the top five.

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference foe, Western New Mexico, finished eighth with a 642 score as MSUB holds a six-point lead in the league standings heading into the conference tournament Apr. 18-20, in Phoenix.  The Yellowjackets are three points behind league leader Mesa State and WNMU is in third in the standings.

Individually, Tarleton State’s Carla Cooper also led wire-to-wire as she fired a 1-under 71 to go along with a 66 from yesterday for a 7-under 137.  Teammates Jacqueline Lau and Melanie Tham finished second and third, respectively, as Lau carded a 4-over 148 for the tournament.  She followed a tournament-low 66 with an even par Tuesday.  Tham fired a 152 with a 78 and a 74.  Grand Canyon’s Brittany Anders finished one stroke behind Tham for fourth and there was a three-way tie for fifth.

For the Yellowjackets, senior Amy Nordeen dropped eight strokes from yesterday’s windy round to shoot an 80 Tuesday for the team-low.  She carded an 88 on Monday and finished tied for 55th with a 168 score.  Elizabeth Tikriti finished 77th with a 183 score (91 – 92), while Breanna Magness was tied for 78th after round of 94 and 90 for a 184 score.  Erin Heaney tied for 80th with a 185, as did Libby Rutz both players had rounds of 92 and 93. 

The Yellowjackets return home to prepare for the RMAC Championships as the Jackets are ninth in the latest NCAA Central Region Rankings.  Western New Mexico is sixth in the rankings and Mesa State is third.  

16 Montana St. Billings 364 354 718
T 55 Amy Nordeen 88 80 168
77 Elizabeth Tikriti 91 92 183
T 78 Breanna Magness 94 90 184
T 80 Erin Heaney 93 92 185