Griz golf heads to California
2/17/2012 12:00:00 AM | Golf
Feb. 17, 2012
The University of Montana golf team heads to California to compete in its first tournament of 2012. The Griz will play in the Folino Invitational hosted by Cal State Fullerton in Industry Hills, Calif., Sunday through Tuesday.
The 54-hole tournament will host 12 teams from around the country. Cal Poly, CSU Bakersfield, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, Eastern Washington, Gonzaga, Long Beach State, Sacramento State, Seattle, South Alabama and UC Riverside will be in attendance to play on the 6,552-yard Zaharias course at Industry Hills Golf Club.
"I am really excited about this event," said first-year coach Emily Milberger. "We have seen a lot of these teams in the fall, and it will be good to test ourselves against them again."
Of the 11 teams Montana will face in the three-day event, two of them will be Big Sky opponents. Sacramento State, which was ranked No. 1 in the Big Sky preseason poll, and Eastern Washington will be present at the event as well.
Montana had the lowest per-round average of all the Big Sky teams during the fall with 310.5 and finished ahead of Sacramento State by two strokes in the Wolf Pack Classic in Dayton, Nev., last October.
Milberger will look for her upperclassmen to pace the Grizzlies. Seniors Ashli Helstrom and Lauren Howell and junior Olivia Weber will be atop the Montana lineup.
Howell is on pace to finish her career with the lowest all-time career scoring average in Griz history. She currently is at 77.18 for her career, and Weber finished the fall with the team's best average at 76 strokes per round. In her last week of competition for the fall Weber earned Big Sky Player of the Week honors.
Rounding out Montana's lineup will be sophomore Natalie Beard and freshman Tara Green.
The Grizzlies will play 18 holes per day for three days with tee times on Sunday and Monday beginning at 9:00 a.m. (MT) and a shotgun start on Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. (MT) as well.
Live scoring will be available via golfstat.com and results and a full recap will be provided on GoGriz.com each day after play concludes.
