Griz close fall schedule in Washington

The Montana women's golf team, which is coming off its best performance of the season, will close out its fall schedule early next week when the Grizzlies compete at the two-day Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational on Monday and Tuesday.

The 54-hole tournament -- 36 on Monday, 18 on Tuesday -- will be held at the Tacoma Country and Golf Club in Lakewood, Wash. It's the fifth consecutive year Montana is playing in the tournament, which has a field of 18 teams, five from the Big Sky Conference.

"It's a tough course with a lot of trees. You really have to work the ball. You can be in the fairway and still not have a clear shot at the greens," said coach Kris Nord.

"You have to be able to hit a knockdown cut, a knockdown draw, punch shots. It forces the players to hit some creative shots that might not be in their comfort zone."

Montana will be competing with a lineup of senior Baylee Barckley at No. 1, sophomore Faith D'Ortenzio at No. 2, freshman Kylie Esh at No. 3, junior Teigan Avery at No. 4 and freshman Brooklyn Van Bebber at No. 5.

Freshman Allison Sobol will also be competing as an individual, and it's revealing that she ranks third on the team in fall scoring average, at 79.1, but did not make the five-player lineup for the final fall tournament.

Six players have fall scoring averages between Barckley's team-leading 78.1 and Avery's 80.8.

"And (junior Caylyn Villatora) has been playing good enough golf to get consideration also, which is good to see," said Nord. "We have seven people vying for five spots. That's the kind of competition I want.

"It's encouraging that we have five people who are able to post a score and get us in contention."

That was the case as Montana played 54 holes at the Wyoming Cowgirl Desert Intercollegiate in Palm Desert, Calif., two weeks ago.

After the Grizzlies, particularly the freshmen, shook off their nerves, they rallied to offset an opening-round 324 with scores of 308 and 301, the latter matching the best score by any team in any round of the tournament.

That allowed Montana to move up the leaderboard, eventually finishing in fifth place out of 12 teams.

"We hope to continue the momentum. We've had some good practices since we came back from California," said Nord, who watched Barckley shoot rounds of 77, 72 and 75 at the Classic Club to finish in a tie for fifth, six strokes out of first. It was Barckley's fifth career top-10 finish.

"Everybody is hitting the ball well, and it starts up top with Baylee. I'd love to see her continue what she's done her last few rounds. If she does, she'll have a chance to contend. She's got the distance to get away from trouble at Tacoma."

When the final putt drops for the Grizzlies on Tuesday, it will be nearly four months until its next tournament for Montana, which won't compete again until traveling to Southern California in mid-February for the Battle at the Rock in Riverside.

That's the first of five spring tournaments, a lineup that's capped by the Big Sky Conference Championship, which returns to Boulder City, Nev., for the fourth consecutive year.

"I feel great about what we've done in the fall, and I'm real hopeful with the talent we have, especially the young talent we have," said Nord. "We'll stay outside until the snow falls and hope for a little more spring. We need to get outside and hit the ball before we have to go compete in February and March.

"I'm excited about this crew. We're deeper than we were last year. It's exciting that if we play our A game, we can be in the mix at any tournament we play."

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Teigan Avery

Baylee Barckley

Faith D'Ortenzio

Kylie Esh

Allison Sobol

Brooklyn Van Bebber

Caylyn Villatora

University of Montana Athletics