Barckley named Big Sky Golfer of the Week

One day after winning her first collegiate tournament, the two-day, eight-team Battle at Old Works in Anaconda, Montana junior Baylee Barckley added another new accolade to her growing resume: Big Sky Conference Golfer of the Week.

It's the first Big Sky award for Barckley, who won Monday and Tuesday's tournament by a stroke over North Dakota State's Natalie Roth after shooting rounds of 70, 72 and 72 to finish 2-under.

She becomes the Grizzlies' first Big Sky Golfer of the Week since the 2015 spring season.

Barckley had a strong freshman campaign, in 2015-16, finishing with a team-leading stroke average of 77.76. She finished in the top five at both Cal Poly's tournament and the Big Sky championship, earning all-tournament honors at the latter.

Her stroke average last year as a sophomore was 79.83, and she went without a top-10 finish. A year after tying for fifth at the Big Sky championship, she tied for 37th, with two rounds in the 80s.

"She felt like her sophomore year was a real curveball for her. She wasn't expecting that. She expected to play better than she did," says interim head coach Kris Nord.

"I think her whole goal this year was to turn it around from her sophomore year. She was really upset with last year and wanted to prove she's a good golfer."

Barckley wasted little time announcing her return. She fired five birdies during Monday's opening round to shoot a 2-under 70, then used three more in the afternoon round to shoot an even-par 72.

That gave her the 36-hole lead, a heavy burden to carry to bed.

"She played great to pull out that tournament," said Nord, "especially sleeping on the lead and being a little nervous going into the final round. It's the toughest position to be in and win."

Nord, the women's golf program's very first coach, from 1993-96, may be in his first semester back with the program, but he is no stranger to the situation he and Barckley found themselves in on Tuesday.

In Nord's first two years coaching the Grizzlies, Brandy Casey won six tournaments.

"She was from California, similar to Baylee, except Baylee hits a lot longer ball," said Nord. "So I've been in that position before.

"It's about keeping them distracted and keeping them from thinking about their competitors' scores or the people they're playing with. Just focus on their play. Baylee did a good job of it."

Barckley had her only two double bogeys of the tournament during Tuesday's concluding round, plus two other bogeys, but she balanced those out with six birdies.

Her 14 birdies over three rounds were three more than any other player in the field.

A double bogey on her next-to-last hole on Tuesday brought Barckley back to the field, but a tap-in par on the 54th hole gave her a one-stroke victory, the first for the program since Barbora Bakova won the Sacramento State Invitational in March 2015.

Montana will be back in action on Monday and Tuesday at the Loyola Invitational. The tournament will be played at the Flossmoor Country Club in Flossmoor, Ill.

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