Montana
Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational
Griz shoot 307, hang on to fourth place
10/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Golf
Montana shot a final-round 307 Tuesday and finished in fourth place at the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational at the Tacoma Country and Golf Club at Lakewood, Wash.
The tournament was the final event of the fall for the Grizzlies, who don't compete again until the Cal State Northridge Invitational in early February.
Senior Tara Green (74-75-78) finished the tournament at 11-over and tied for 14th. Sophomore Barbora Bakova (77-72-79) was one stroke back at 12-over. She tied for 17th.
Sophomore Amanda Kahn (79-80-71) made the team's biggest move Tuesday, jumping from a tie for 40th before the final round to a finish of 21st on the strength of her 1-under 71. It was one of only a dozen scores under par that the field of 77 shot over the three rounds on the par-72 course.
"This was Amanda's first below-par round in a college tournament and her lowest round ever. She just got on a roll and played some really solid golf today, and it was good to see," said UM coach Joni Stephens.
Starting her day on No. 7, Kahn's round got off to an inauspicious start when she carded a bogey on her first hole. She dropped to 2-over on the 13th, but birdies on Nos. 16, 17 and 18 got her into the red.
A bogey on No. 1 moved her to even, but Kahn scored a birdie two on her final hole, the 153-yard No. 6, to take three strokes off her previous best round as a Grizzly.
"Amanda's ball-striking has really improved since last year. We shortened up her swing, and she's gotten more and more comfortable hitting into greens," said Stephens.
"What's been keeping her from getting to this point sooner has been her putting, especially the shorter putts, and that just clicked today."
Junior Phoebe Tan (79-76-81) tied for 32nd and freshman Hailey Hoagland (85-84-79) tied for 63rd, as Montana finished in the top four of a 13-team tournament without redshirt sophomore Alexa Schendelman and junior Hayley Bingham, both of whom are injured.
"It's a good feeling to have, because as a coach and as a team what we're working for is to be a team that has depth," said Stephens. "On any given day I feel like whatever team I take is going to have the opportunity to score well enough to be competitive."
Jing Yan (75-71-69) of Washington tied for first with Grand Canyon's Charlotte Jaengkit (70-75-70) at 1-under. Yan claimed medalist honors when she defeated Jaengkit on the first playoff hole.
Washington had five of the tournament's top six individuals and blew away the field by 34 strokes with rounds of 291, 288 and 284. The Huskies were 1-under for the tournament.
Washington State (292-301-304) was a distant second, and Grand Canyon (298-309-296) was third, 16 shots ahead of fourth-place Montana (309-303-307).
Montana began the day one stroke up on Portland State and three up on Idaho, which pitted Grizzly against Viking against Vandal in the final-day threesomes.
Idaho shot a final-round 313 to finish in a tie for sixth. Portland State, which was playing without 2014 Big Sky Conference champion A Ram Choi, who is nursing an injured wrist, carded a 320 to finish eighth.
Weber State was ninth, and Eastern Washington finished 12th.
"It felt like a win today, because we went head-to-head with Portland State and Idaho in our groupings, and we ended up on top. That's a really good feeling," said Stephens.
"To be back in the top five again, to have a solid tournament with three good rounds of golf, and to finish on top of the other conference teams at this tournament was a good way to end the fall season."
Players Mentioned
