Griz to compete in Arizona

The Montana women's golf team will compete next week at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic, a two-day, 54-hole tournament held at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Ariz.

The tournament will be played Monday and Tuesday, with 36 holes the first day, 18 the second.

The Cowgirl Classic will be the last tournament for the Grizzlies prior to the Big Sky Conference Championship, which will be hosted by Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nev., from April 19-21.

The 19-team field at the Cowgirl Classic will provide a formidable challenge for Montana, which still does not have full access to a local course after a late-departing winter.

Sixteen teams will enter the tournament with a higher Golf Stat ranking than the 206 held by the Grizzlies. Five of the top seven teams in the Big Sky preseason coaches' poll will be competing.

New Mexico State, which won the Red Rocks Invitational, the most recent tournament in which Montana competed, has a field's best ranking of 100. UTEP is 101, Santa Clara 102.

Southern Utah, at 121, is the highest-ranked team from the Big Sky. Northern Colorado (145), Northern Arizona (146), Portland State (150) and Eastern Washington (165) also will be playing.

"It's a loaded field. Across the board, everybody is strong. It will be a real challenge for us to compete," said coach Kris Nord. "Our goal will be to keep improving and get a few more rounds under 300 or close to 300."

Montana played the same tournament on the same course last year and had scores of 302, 307 and 295.

"Southern Dunes is a much tougher course than those we've been playing on, especially if the winds pick up," added Nord. "I'm hearing it might be in the 90s, which is good. We could use some heat to get us ready for conference."

Nord will travel with a team of six: senior Baylee Barckley, junior Teigan Avery, sophomore Faith D'Ortenzio and freshmen Kylie Esh, Allison Sobol and Brooklyn Van Bebber, who will compete as an individual.

Not knowing what kind of qualifying he'll be able to do locally after his team returns from Arizona, Nord will largely use results from the tournament to determine who will make the five-player cut for the Big Sky Championship.

"This is the tournament that is going to decide it, since I doubt we'll have courses to play on next week," said Nord.

"It's been really hard to have the gaps we've had between competition without being able to get out and play in between. The ladies have been great with just dealing with it and not complaining. It's great to have a team that goes about its business. We've done everything we can do given the circumstances."

Montana opened its spring schedule in mid-February at the Battle at the Rock in Riverside, Calif., then had more than a month between tournaments.

The Lady Thunderbird Invitational, in St. George, Utah, and the Red Rocks Invitational, in Cornville, Ariz., came within 11 days of each other.

The results showed, as the Grizzlies closed the Thunderbird Invitational with a 310, then shot rounds of 292, 303 and 305 at Red Rocks.

Because that tournament led into spring break, all of Nord's players remained in the southwest to get some extra time on grass.

"We shot some good scores the last tournament. I just hope we can keep that momentum going. The girls all stayed down south over spring break to play some more. I think that will help," said Nord.

"It was just what they needed coming off a tournament. It was a good break for them to get away from the indoor center and our weather."

Barckley, the team's lone senior, has been Montana's low scorer the last two tournaments. She tied for eighth at the Red Rocks Invitational, a tournament that opened with her shooting a 68 to match the program record.

She followed with a 72, then closed with a 73, a round that began with a triple bogey.

"I was really impressed with the way she hung in there. She had every right to kind of wave the white flag and come in with a high-70 or low-80. The way she hung in there speaks to how much she's matured as a college player," said Nord.

Her finish gave her seven top-10s for her career and dropped her career scoring average to 77.82, which would rank fifth in program history.

Two solid tournaments to close out her career could move her past Hailey Hoagland (77.80), Olivia Weber (77.75) and Lauren Howell (77.70) and into second place behind Tara Green (76.85).

"It's been a little emotional for her the last few weeks, because she's really enjoyed her collegiate experience. Her family has been at most of our tournaments, which has been really fun for them," said Nord.

"She doesn't have senioritis. She's been playing real well."

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Players Mentioned

Teigan Avery

Baylee Barckley

Faith D'Ortenzio

Kylie Esh

Tara Green

Hailey Hoagland

Allison Sobol

Brooklyn Van Bebber

University of Montana Athletics