Griz open fall season at Hobble Creek Invitational
9/6/2014 12:00:00 AM | Golf
The Montana women's golf team will open its 2014-15 season Monday and Tuesday when the Grizzlies compete at the Hobble Creek Invitational. The 12-team tournament will be held at the Hobble Creek Golf Course at Springville, Utah, and be hosted by Utah Valley and BYU.
Teams will play 36 holes on Monday, 18 on Tuesday. Other Big Sky Conference teams competing will be Idaho State, Montana State, Northern Arizona, Southern Utah and Weber State.
The tournament is the first of five for Montana this fall. The Grizzlies will also play Monday-Tuesday tournaments at Corvallis, Ore., Pullman, Wash., Aurora, Ore., and Lakewood, Wash.
All five tournaments will be played within a six-week window, meaning Montana will conclude its fall season in mid-October, a more condensed schedule than normal.
"Players are usually pretty sharp in their games coming off the summer, so playing in this many tournaments so early in the semester isn't necessarily a bad thing," said second-year coach Joni Stephens. "I think it will allow us to get on a roll and into a rhythm.
"It also gets us done earlier in the semester so they can really buckle down in their classes."
A year ago Stephens was still in the meet-and-greet phase with her players after getting hired shortly before Labor Day.
This year she returns six players, including senior Tara Green and sophomore Barbora Bakova, both of whom were second-team All-Big Sky Conference selections in 2013-14.
Bakova will be the only Montana player not competing at the team's opening tournament. She recently represented her home country of the Czech Republic at the World Amateur Team Championships in Japan.
Also back are juniors Hayley Bingham and Phoebe Tan and sophomores Amanda Kahn and Alexa Schendelman.
"Obviously this year is a lot different," said Stephens. "I know who I have going in, and I know the work they did over the summer, so I know where everyone stands and what still needs to be worked on."
Because of the team's number of returners, Stephens added just a single newcomer, Hailey Hoagland of Butte. The freshman has wasted little time adjusting to collegiate golf, at least in practice.
She shot rounds of 73, 78 and 77 in the team's three pre-tournament qualifiers at the Missoula Country Club and the Ranch Club and will be playing in Montana's No. 2 position Monday in her Griz debut.
"Hailey is probably one of the longest hitters on the team, and she has a very even temperament when she plays," said Stephens. "She doesn't get overly frustrated when she has a bad shot, and she is very purposeful. That's something I look for when I'm recruiting.
"I felt like she could make an impact pretty quickly, and she has. I've been very pleased. She did a lot of work over the summer, and it's paying off."
Green qualified for Montana's top spot at the season-opening tournament, followed by Hoagland, Bingham, Schendelman and Kahn. Tan will compete Monday and Tuesday as an individual.
Green enters her final season with nine top-10 finishes as a Grizzly and with a career scoring average of 77.0. The program record is 77.7, held by Lauren Howell (2009-12).
Last year Green won both the Grizzly Invitational and Rio Verde Invitational.
"Tara did a lot of preparation over the summer, so her game is in good shape," said Stephens. "She is a very strong golfer. She was very consistent for me last year.
"I expect to see some wonderful things out of her this year, though what I see sometimes with seniors is they put a lot of pressure on themselves because it's their final year. The main thing for Tara will be staying in the process and not getting ahead of herself."
Montana had a consistent top three last year with Bakova (76.7 stroke average), Green (76.8) and Schendelman (78.2). The team's other four golfers -- Bingham, Tan, Kahn and Lindsay Reeve, who is now Stephens' assistant coach -- all had season stroke averages higher than 80.
Hoagland should help bridge the scoring divide, as will the improved play of Bingham. The junior had a high-scoring spring until the Big Sky championship, when opening rounds of 74 and 76 had her in contention for a top-10 finish.
"Toward the end of the season Hayley finally started coming into her game and getting where I want her to be," said Stephens. "She's got a much more relaxed attitude on the course and a better rhythm to her game than she had last year. I really like what I'm seeing this year.
"I think she is going to be right up in the mix, and that should give us a pretty strong five."
In the spring Montana is tentatively scheduled to play once in Hawaii, twice in California and three times in Arizona, including the Big Sky championship at the Ocotillo Golf Resort in Chandler April 19-21.
The Grizzlies finished fourth at the conference championship last spring.
"This group can absolutely win the Big Sky," said Stephens. "We've got work to do, but we're starting in a good place.
"These early tournaments will give us a good indication of where we stand. There are several conference teams playing in the same tournaments, so after the fall we'll know where we stand and what work we're going to have to get done to be where we want to be in the spring."
