Griz golfers open fall season Monday in Utah

The Montana women's golf team, under first-year coach Matt Higgins, will open its fall tournament schedule this week at the Hobble Creek Fall Classic. Sixteen teams will play 36 holes on Monday and 18 on Tuesday at the Hobble Creek Golf Course in Springville, Utah.

The tournament is hosted by Utah Valley and will include eight teams from the Big Sky Conference.

The Grizzlies will compete with a lineup of senior Hayley Bingham, juniors Amanda Kahn and Alexa Schendelman, sophomore Hailey Hoagland and freshman Sadie Crippen.

Taking the team to Utah will be Higgins, who has been on the job for less than two weeks. He was hired last month to replace Joni Stephens, who stepped down in June after two years coaching the Grizzlies.

"They are all great girls, and they've been very welcoming," said Higgins, who had been coaching at NCAA Division II Concordia-St. Paul since 2001.

"It's a very talented bunch, from top to bottom, and very competitive. I think it's going to be an exciting year for us. Even though they've had some instability the last few years, I think the girls are ready to go out there and show that they are one of the top teams in the conference."

It will be a changing of the guard for the team in more ways than just the coaching position this fall. Tara Green, who had a career scoring average of 76.9, best in program history, is gone, as is Barbora Bakova, last year's top player who transferred to Coastal Carolina.

Bingham, Kahn and Schendelman, who was second-team All-Big Sky Conference last spring, give Higgins' first team a solid group of upperclassmen. Hoagland finished her freshman season with a solid 79.6 stroke average while playing in seven of the team's 10 tournaments.

The team's other returner is senior Phoebe Tan.

Stephens brought in a freshman class of Baylee Barckley (Canyon Lake, Calif.), Abby Pfeifer (Puyallup, Wash.) and Crippen, who will play in the No. 2 position Monday and Tuesday.

"Joni did a great job with the incoming class," said Higgins. "I'm really impressed with the freshmen and really the whole team. From top to bottom, it's definitely a step up (from Concordia-St. Paul).

"At the Division II level you get girls who could play on this team, but from top to bottom, that's where you find the difference. From our No. 1 player to our No. 8, they are all pretty solid. That's where I notice the biggest difference."

Montana's season-opening lineup will take on the same 6,032-yard course that the Grizzlies opened on last season. Bingham, Kahn, Schendelman and Hoagland all competed a year ago, as Montana finished seventh out of 12 teams.

The Grizzlies opened last year's Hobble Creek Classic with scores of 314 and 296. The final round of the tournament was rained out.

Green, who shot rounds of 78 and 73 to tie for 19th, led the way; Bingham and Schendelman were just one stroke back. Bingham notably fired a second-round 70 after opening with an 82, while Schendelman played two steady rounds of 76.

"One thing I told the team is that I won't have goals for them this week," Higgins said. "I don't want to put a score in their head. I just want to see 100 percent effort for 36 holes on Monday and the same thing for 18 holes on Tuesday. If they give me everything they have, I'll be happy with that.

"Eventually we'll work into our scores, but for now I'm more worried about the process. If we take care of the process -- giving me that effort, staying focused, treating our opponents well and having a good attitude -- the scores will come."

Montana will compete in five fall tournaments, with the Hobble Creek Classic kicking off three straight Monday-Tuesday events. The Grizzlies will play in the Washington State Cougar Cup Sept. 21-22 and the Rose City Collegiate Sept. 28-29.

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Barbora Bakova

Baylee Barckley

Hayley Bingham

Sadie Crippen

Tara Green

Hailey Hoagland

Amanda Kahn

Abby Pfeifer

Alexa Schendelman

Phoebe Tan

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