Griz battle rust, delays in California

The Griz golf team traveled to Southern California to escape the Montana winter, only to find unseasonably cool temperatures on Monday that hindered the start of the Battle at the Rock.

A morning frost delay cut more than two hours out of the opening day of the scheduled 54-hole tournament, which is being played at the Oak Quarry Golf Club in Riverside.

Instead of playing 36 holes, with 18 scheduled for Tuesday, teams got in one round on Monday and played as many holes as they could of the second round before play had to be suspended.

If there is no frost delay on Tuesday, which isn't a given, the schedule should allow for all teams to finish their second round and also complete their final 18.

If there is another delay, the schedule will have to be modified to accommodate those teams, like Montana, that have flights to catch.

"They are hopeful," said coach Kris Nord. "They want to finish today's round, cut new pin placements and go right into Round 3. It's going to be touch-and-go for the teams that have early flights."

In the one round Montana completed on Monday, the Grizzlies carded a 322, with freshman Kylie Esh, at 77, the only player breaking 80. The 322 was the highest score in the 15-team field.

Montana's scorecards had a handful of birdies but also some double- and triple-bogeys as well. In other words, not much different than should have been expected for the team's opening tournament.

"We had a lot of scratchy holes. It looked like our first round on a golf course in a couple of months," said Nord. "It had a little bit of everything as we knocked the rust off and tried to get over the nerves."

It didn't help that six teams broke 300, five of them from California. Five more shot 305 or better. Cal Poly shot a 291, Cal State Northridge a 292, Santa Clara a 294.

"It's a tough field," said Nord. "You press a little bit when all the teams are solid, because you want to play with them."

Esh was the only Montana player without anything worse than a bogey on her scorecard for Round 1. She bogeyed her first two holes, then played the remaining 16 at 3-over. She birdied the par-4 11th.

"If Kylie had made a few putts, she would have been in the low 70s," said Nord. "She left some shots out there, but she hung in there better than anybody else. She's managing the course really well."

Baylee Barckley shot an 81, Brooklyn Van Bebber and Allison Sobol, both freshmen, 82s and Faith D'Ortenzio an 84.

Barckley had the team's best start to its second round. She is 3-over through 10 holes. Esh is 4-over.

"For us it's all around the greens," said Nord. "Our bunker play and our putting let us down more than anything else.

"We don't get any bunker practice at all in the winter, and that showed right away, because this is a tough course with deep bunkers. You have to avoid them, and we didn't."

Cal Poly's Elizabeth Scholtes shot an opening-round 68. USC's Alyaa Abdulghany, California Baptist's Yifei Wang and Grand Canyon's Carolina Sandstrom all carded 70s.

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Baylee Barckley

Faith D'Ortenzio

Kylie Esh

Allison Sobol

Brooklyn Van Bebber

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