Golfers making the best of it

The Montana women's golf team, hindered by a winter that has yet to begin to release its icy grip, will play its second tournament of the spring semester this weekend in Arizona.

The Grizzlies will compete Saturday and Sunday at the Grand Canyon Invitational in Phoenix. The tournament -- 36 holes on day one, 18 on day two -- will be played at the Grand Canyon Golf Course.

Montana opened its season at the Battle at the Rock in Riverside, Calif., less than two weeks ago. And what the Grizzlies learned about their games is something they've been unable to work on in between tournaments due to weather.

"It's been a challenging couple of weeks," said coach Kris Nord. "We know we need bunker work and we know we need to be out on the course, but we know this is Montana and that we have to deal with it.

"The girls are making the best of it. They come out and put in the work, but there is only so much you can do in the (indoor facility)."

Nord is traveling this week with the same group of five who played in Riverside: seniors Hailey Hoagland and Kari Opatz, junior Baylee Barckley, sophomore Teigan Avery and freshman Faith D'Ortenzio, who is from Phoenix and is the only Grizzly who's seen the course before.

"She played her high school championship on the course, so she's passing the word along to her teammates about what it's like," said Nord.

The tournament will feature 14 teams, five of which are from the Big Sky Conference. Joining Montana from the league will be Eastern Washington, Montana State, Northern Colorado and Portland State.

The Vikings (3), Bears (5), Eagles (6) and Bobcats (7) were all picked ahead of the Grizzlies, who were picked eighth, in the Big Sky preseason coaches' poll.

Montana State finished 12 strokes better than Montana at the Battle at the Rock.

"I'm not going to scrutinize scores that closely at this tournament," said Nord. "It's a chance for us to get outside, and it's a brand-new course for everybody.

"I want to see us sharpen up a few things, obviously, and we should score lower than we did at Riverside."

Montana opened its spring schedule with a 300 at the Battle at the Rock, then shot rounds of 318 and 313.

Hoagland was Montana's top finisher at Riverside and the only Grizzly to shoot three rounds in the 70s, carding scores of 74, 76 and 77 to tie for 34th.

Every other player had at least one score in the 80s.

"We were really close to playing well," said Nord. "We managed to miss every short putt and turn a lot of bogeys into double-bogeys. We made a lot of mental errors, which comes from not playing on courses.

"Some of the things from fall that I wanted to see us improve on, I thought we did, which was encouraging. I just have to have faith that the results will follow."

Avery was Montana's No. 2 finisher at the Battle at the Rock, outscoring both Opatz and Barckley by two strokes. She opened with a 75, faded to an 84 in round two and closed with a 77 to tie for 63rd.

Her 236 was her best tournament of the year, including the four events she played in the fall.

"She's swinging better," said Nord. "We've worked on trying to get her to slow things down just a little bit. She gets a little quick when she's nervous. She really improved in that area, and she scored better."

Opatz (80-77-81) and Barckley (74-86-78) tied for 67th, while D'Ortenzio (77-81-84) tied for 76th.

After wrapping up the Grand Canyon Invitational on Sunday, Montana won't have another tournament until the Red Rocks Invitational opens in Sedona, Ariz., on Saturday, March 24.

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Players Mentioned

Teigan Avery

Baylee Barckley

Faith D'Ortenzio

Hailey Hoagland

Kari Opatz

University of Montana Athletics