Griz tee it back up this weekend

The fall schedule continues this weekend for the Montana women's golf team, which will play the third of its four autumn tournaments at Palm Desert, Calif.

The Grizzlies will compete Saturday and Sunday at the Wyoming Cowgirl Desert Intercollegiate at the Classic Club, with 36 holes scheduled for Saturday, 18 for Sunday.

The field of 12 teams features Montana, North Dakota, Northern Arizona and Southern Utah of the Big Sky Conference, plus 2015 and '16 tournament champions UC Riverside and Santa Clara.

Rounding out the field will be the host Cowgirls, Cal State Bakersfield, Cal State Northridge, Hawaii, Texas-Arlington and Utah Valley.

Montana will play with a lineup of junior Baylee Barckley at No. 1, senior Kari Opatz at No. 2, senior Hailey Hoagland at No. 3, sophomore Teigan Avery at No. 4 and sophomore Caylyn Villatora at No. 5.

Villatora played in just one event last year as a freshman. She competed as an individual earlier this month at the season-opening Battle at Old Works at Anaconda and made this week's travel team through qualifying.

"Caylyn hits a good ball. What she needs more than anything else at this point is competition," said coach Kris Nord. "She has the occasional hiccup, so she'll need to avoid big holes. If she can do that, she has the talent to be in the 70s."

Barckley, who shot a 69 in qualifying on Sunday, has gotten off to a torrid start this fall. She won the Battle at Old Works and tied for second at last week's Loyola Invitational. Her six-round scoring average for the fall is 73.50.

Hoagland has a fall average of 76.83, as does Opatz.

"Baylee has been playing lights out," said Nord, who was Montana's first golf coach, from 1993-96. "I have pretty good faith in the entire group in terms of keeping their heads screwed on and trying hard.

"My memories from the 90s are that I'd always have one or two kids I'd have to cheerlead and be in their ear to keep them focused and trying. With this group, I don't have to do that. They're pretty mature about competing through the round, whether it's going well or not."

Montana, with three scores of 300 or better, finished fifth at the Battle at Old Works, then improved on that placing last week at the Loyola Invitational in Flossmoor, Ill. On a much tougher course, the Grizzlies played rounds of 316, 321 and 307.

Barckley tied for second, five strokes off the winning score. Opatz finished ninth, progressively getting better as the tournament wore on, going from 80 to 78 to 77, all while dealing with an equipment issue.

"She had a really tough break. She broke her driver the night before we flew out, so she was trying my driver and drivers from the Ranch Club trying to figure out what to use in Chicago," said Nord.

"That's a tough blow. We just tried to make it up as we went to get something that worked in her hands. It makes a difference, because there is a security in using your own clubs. She fought that the entire time in Chicago and ended up pretty good. She didn't complain about it. She just worked through it."

Hoagland finished 15th at the Loyola Invitational, her final placing hindered by a second-round 85. She opened with a 79 and closed with a 75.

Avery and freshman Faith D'Ortenzio both carded scores in the 80s for each of their rounds.

"The focus now is to try to get all five players clicking at the same time. If we do that, we have a chance to do quite well as a team this weekend," said Nord.

"We always seem to have a score in the low 80s. To finish well as a team, we have to avoid that one weak link, and we're capable of doing that."

This weekend will be Montana's fourth time competing in the seven-year-old Cowgirl Desert Intercollegiate. The Grizzlies finished 11th out of 12 teams last fall, with rounds of 321, 317 and 304.

Opatz, who finished 19th after shooting rounds of 74, 77 and 75, was the only player to card three scores in the 70s.

Four of the golfers competing this weekend -- Barckley, Opatz, Hoagland and Avery -- played the course last October.

"Everybody but Caylyn has seen this course, which is good. It will make our practice round a little more low-key since we're familiar with it," said Nord.

Montana will close out its fall schedule at the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational in Tacoma, Wash., on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 16-17.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Teigan Avery

Baylee Barckley

Faith D'Ortenzio

Hailey Hoagland

Kari Opatz

Caylyn Villatora

University of Montana Athletics