Griz golfers head to championship in Arizona
4/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Golf
The University of Montana golf team is preparing to depart for the Big Sky Conference championship to be held Monday through Wednesday, April 20-22. The 54-hole tournament will be played at the Ocotillo Golf Club in Chandler, Ariz.
The team champion will represent the Big Sky Conference at the NCAA West Regional held at the Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz., on May 7-9.
A practice round will be held on Sunday before the three-round tournament begins on Monday.?? One round will be played each day on the 6,108-yard, par-72 course. The Grizzlies have a 6:27 a.m. tee time Monday to kick off the tourney.
Grizzlies participating next week include the same women who competed at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic held at the Ocotillo Golf Club April 6-7. They include: junior Jacqueline Olson, sophomores Carissa Simmons, Rose Stepanek, and Kacey Valla along with freshman Ashli Helstrom.
???I???m taking the same team that just played this course because mentally they were able to get a good feel for the course,??? coach Joanne Steele stated. ???This past week they were able to just focus solely on the physical part of the game rather than worrying about qualifying for the team.
???This is also the same team that started the season for us. The same team that went to Washington State and posted three rounds under 310. They started the season strong and they will end the season strong.???
Simmons and Olson are the only two players on this year???s squad who participated in the league championship last season. Simmons led the Grizzlies in 2008 with a 7-over-par total of 223 (81-72-70) to finish third in the Big Sky. Her score of 70 marked the lowest round of any Grizzly last season. Olson finished in 37th place with a total of 246 (78-81-87).
Although Simmons led the Grizzlies last year and has continued to finish well for the Griz this season, she finished fifth of Montana???s five competitors at the Cowgirl Classic just last week. ???She had a fluke tournament,??? Steele said. ???She has shot consistently this spring and back in the fall as well with numerous rounds in the 70s so I think she just needed to get that out of her system. She has to go out there and play her own game and do what she needs to do and the results will take care of themselves.???
All nine Big Sky teams will be represented at the Ocotillo Golf Club including the defending team champion, Portland State. The Vikings have successfully won the Big Sky tournament four times while Northern Arizona leads with five crown titles. The Grizzlies were the victorious champions in 2006, claiming their first ever league title. Sacramento State led the field in 2007.
NAU has certainly made a strong showing this spring, winning the 20-team Wyoming Cowgirl Classic for the second year in a row. All nine BSC schools were present at the championship preview tournament. Montana finished middle of the pack for Big Sky teams after posting a total score of 956 to take tenth overall, fifth in BSC rankings, trailing first place NAU (908), third place SAC (930), seventh place PSU (939) and ninth place MSU (945).
???This last tournament we ranked fifth in the Big Sky schools,??? Steele said. ???The team???s goal is to go in there and win the conference tournament. My goal is to finish in the top three teams. That would be fantastic. Most of the schools that have repeatedly been at the top of each tournament have also been able to practice outside all year long. Northern Arizona, Sac State and Portland State are the top three schools in the conference right now and each team has been outside all year.
???We were very consistent, with three very decent rounds, and that has helped the mental aspect tremendously for this team. Four out of the five players shot in the 70s on this course last week and the team had great cohesion. Although they don???t play together, they see each other out there on the course and I was very impressed with the way they worked together and supported one another.??
???Going into the conference championship it will be huge knowing you have a support group behind you.???
Live tournament updates will be available online at GolfStat.com. Complete team and individual scoring is featured in the live scoring.
