Esh leading Montana at Big Sky Championship

Freshman Kylie Esh shot an opening-round 74 on Friday to lead the Montana women's golf team as the Big Sky Conference Championship got under way at the Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nev.

Esh carded five birdies on the day, tied for the most of any of the tournament's 55 golfers. She is tied for 17th place.

"She's been hitting her irons real well. She didn't feel great about her putter today, but from my point of view she's putting better. She's just been solid," said coach Kris Nord.

Esh, who birdied three of the course's four par 5's, has now played five of her last seven tournament rounds at 75 or better.

"She's handled the pressure real well the last month," said Nord. "She just needed to start making some putts, and she's rolling some within eight feet in now, and that's the difference with her scoring better."

Esh had three birdies in four holes on the back nine and was even through 17 holes, but she double-bogeyed the par-4 18th, her only double of the day.

It was a hole that damaged a few of Montana's scorecards and led to the Grizzlies coming in with a 307. Montana is in ninth place out of 11 teams, with 18 holes to be played on both Saturday and Sunday.

Allison Sobol also had a double-bogey on No. 18. Baylee Barckley and Faith D'Ortenzio both carded a bogey. "It's a tough hole, but we made it a little tougher than it is," said Nord.

Barckley tied for fifth at the championship as a freshman in 2016 and got off to a good start as a senior on Friday. She was 1-under through eight before a triple-bogey seven at the par-4 9th put her above par.

She would add another triple bogey two holes later. She played the five holes between No. 9 and 13 at 8-over.

"Baylee had a chance to have a really good round but had a couple of really big holes that cost her," said Nord. "She was in trouble on both of those holes off her tee shot."

Teigan Avery's opening round played out the opposite of Barckley's. She was 4-over after three holes and made the turn at 6-over. She would play the back nine at 2-under, with birdies at No. 11 and 18.

"She really grinded it out," said Nord. "She decided she wasn't going to keep going that direction, which was real impressive.

"She didn't make any mistakes on the back nine and made some putts. I was real pleased with her response to a slow start."

Behind Esh's 74, Avery carded a 76, D'Ortenzio a 78 and Barckley a 79. Allison Sobol, 3-over through 14, played the final four holes at 6-over to finish with an 81.

Avery is tied for 26th, D'Ortenzio is tied for 36th, Barckley is tied for 39th and Sobol is tied for 48th.

Sacramento State, which has placed in the top two at each of the past five championships, with a title in 2017, leads after 18 holes. The Hornets shot a 290.

Eastern Washington (293), Montana State (294) and Portland State (294) are all within four shots of the Hornets. Idaho, the defending champion, opened with a 296.

Six players broke par for the championship's opening round. Sacramento State's Sofie Babic and Northern Colorado's Beah Cruz both shot a 3-under 69.

Montana had 15 birdies on the day, a total surpassed only by tournament leader Sacramento State. The Hornets had 18.

The Grizzlies gave many of those strokes away with seven double bogeys and two triples.

"The key going forward will be to avoid the doubles and triples," said Nord. "We're throwing some birdies out there. We need to manage the bad holes better and only have bogeys.

"If we don't do that, we don't make enough birdies to score under 300. We have to really minimize the bad holes. We're hitting the ball well enough to score well if we do that."

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Teigan Avery

Baylee Barckley

Faith D'Ortenzio

Kylie Esh

Allison Sobol

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