Barckley cards an ace, Griz close with a 305

Saturday, March 23

Cornville, Ariz.<br>Agave Highlands

Montana

Red Rocks Invitational

3/24/2019 5:52:00 PM | Golf

Results

By: Montana Sports Information

Senior Baylee Barckley had her first lifetime in-competition hole-in-one and closed with a 2-over 73 to tie for eighth as the Red Rocks Invitational concluded on Sunday at Agave Highlands in Cornville, Ariz.

Barckley shot rounds of 68, 72 and 73 on Saturday and Sunday to finish even par and collect her seventh career top-10 finish.

Her three-round total of 213 is the second-lowest in program history, behind only the 212 that Tara Green (74-68-70) shot to win the 2013 Grizzly Invitational at the Missoula Country Club.

Montana (292-303-305) finished 12th out of 18 teams with a three-round total of 900, the fourth-best aggregate score in program history.

Freshman Kylie Esh (75-78-74) tied for 59th by shooting a 74 on Sunday to match her best score in collegiate competition.

Freshman Allison Sobol (74-79-78), who birdied three of the course's five par-3's on Sunday, tied for 72nd. Junior Teigan Avery (81-75-80) and freshman Brooklyn Van Bebber (75-78-83) both tied for 90th.

Competing as an individual, sophomore Faith D'Ortenzio (77-82-74) closed with a 74, her low collegiate score, to tie for 80th.

Barckley finished six strokes off the winning score of Southern Utah's Chanikan Yongyuan (67-69-71), who finished 6-under on the par-71 course.

The day began inauspiciously for Barckley, who opened her round on the par-4 8th and promptly recorded a triple bogey.

"It was kind of hard to get over mentally. My drive settled right into the hazard, and it kind of spiraled down on that hole after that," she said. "I basically scrambled all day long trying to keep it together."

She would play her next seven holes at 1-over, which brought her to the par-3 16th.

With the pin placement 162 yards away and the green slightly downhill, Barckley played a 7-iron. "It was a right-front pin and I hit it just left of the pin on this little mound. It kicked it right toward the pin and it rolled right in," she said.

"I wasn't really paying attention. I was walking away from the tee and I hear my dad go, 'Go in the hole!' I turned my head just in time to see it drop in. It's funny. I was just telling (coach Kris Nord) a couple of practices ago that I need a hole-in-one before this semester ends."

It was her first hole-in-one in competition, the second of her life. "My first one was when I was 14 years old and playing with my family," she said.

That got her back to 2-over for her round, and that's where she would finish. Outside of her triple on Sunday's opening hole, Barckley played the tournament's other 53 holes at 3-under.

New Mexico State (281-294-278--853) shot a final-round 278 to move up the leaderboard and into first place when the final putt dropped.

Cal State Fullerton (286-287-285-858) was second, Gonzaga (277-292-294--863) and Northern Arizona (278-297-288--863) tied for third, Cal Baptist (288-288-288--864) finished fifth.

Montana will return to Arizona in two weeks to compete at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic in Maricopa. Ten days after that concludes, the Big Sky Conference Championship will open in Boulder City, Nev.

"Coming off a tournament like this, it just adds some fuel to my fire. I'm ready to go," said Barckley. "We all are, because everyone played well this weekend.

"We're going to go into the next tournament thinking, we can do this. We can perform."