Esh peaking as Big Sky Championship approaches

Monday, April 8

Maricopa, Ariz.<br>Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club

Montana

Wyoming Cowgirl Classic

4/9/2019 4:57:00 PM | Golf

Results

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana freshman Kylie Esh, who shot an even-par 72 on Monday afternoon, carded a 74 on Tuesday as the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic concluded at the Ak-Chin Southern Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Ariz.

Esh (78-72-74) finished 8-over for the tournament and as the Grizzlies' top placer, tying for 23rd. Montana (315-301-317) closed with a team score of 317 to finish 19th out of 20 teams.

The tournament was the last for the Grizzlies before Montana competes next week at the Big Sky Conference Championship in Boulder City, Nev.

"We're better than we showed today. Hopefully this motivates us, because we know we're a lot better than this," said coach Kris Nord, whose team had just one score in the 70s on Tuesday.

That came from Esh, who had a three-round total of 224, the best tournament score, by three strokes, of her young college career.

Over her final two rounds at the Cowgirl Classic, she had five bogeys and three birdies. Everything else was played at par.

"Kylie hit the ball real well. That's back-to-back rounds when she was in the low 70s without having a hot putter. I'm real happy for her," said Nord. "We kind of struggled beyond that."

Baylee Barckley (76-72-80) entered the final round tied for 21st. She ended the tournament tied for 44th after an 8-over 80 on Tuesday.

After posting five birdies for Monday's afternoon round, Barckley went without over the final 18 holes and had three double bogeys, including her 54th hole of the tournament, the par-4 12th.

"Baylee had another tough finishing hole, kind of a repeat of what happened yesterday," said Nord.

Faith D'Ortenzio (80-76-82) tied for 89th, Teigan Avery (81-81-81) placed 100th, Allison Sobol (82-81-84) tied for 103rd.

Competing as an individual, Brooklyn Van Bebber (87-84-80) came in 107th.

D'Ortenzio was indicative of the day for most of Montana's players. She didn't have anything worse than a bogey on her way to an 82, but she had 10 of them.

"We have to get away from the three-putts," said Nord. "We need to have better lag putting, better short putts. We gave a ton of strokes away.

"Faith played much better than her score. She didn't have any blow-up holes, but she had a lot of three-putts. She could have been in the mid-70s."

UTEP (300-286-297) won the title by a stroke over Santa Clara (289-299-296), two over New Mexico State (293-295-297), four over Cal Poly (299-292-296) and five over UC Riverside (293-297-298).

Northern Colorado (297-292-301), which placed sixth, was the top finisher among the seven Big Sky Conference schools competing.

New Mexico State's Suthavee Chanachai (67-69-72) won individual honors by four strokes at 8-under. Seven players finished the tournament under par.

The Big Sky Conference Championship will be contested at the Boulder Creek Golf Club from Friday, April 19, to Sunday, April 21, with 18 holes each day.