Grizzlies to enjoy busy week of golf

It will be a full schedule of competition next week for the Montana women's golf team, which plays a two-day tournament in Oregon, then hosts the first-ever Griz Match Play Challenge at the Missoula Country Club.

The Rose City Collegiate, hosted by Portland State, is up first. The 54-hole tournament will be played Monday and Tuesday at Langdon Farms Golf Club in Aurora, Ore., and comes two weeks after the Grizzlies opened their fall season at the Battle at Old Works in Anaconda.

Montana shot rounds of 313, 312 and 306 to finish seventh in the 10-team field.

"I expect our scores to come down at our next tournament," said coach Kris Nord. "I hope the nerves are a little more settled. The big thing is we need to putt better as a team. That's what really held us up at Old Works, and I think those two things are related.

"I think we're doing pretty well with our ball-striking. We need to go sink some putts if we want to post some scores."

Nord will take his top eight scorers from Old Works to Oregon, six of whom are underclassmen. Sophomore Kylie Esh led the Grizzlies in Anaconda, shooting rounds of 75, 76 and 75 to tie for 10th.

Freshman Tricia Joyce, who shot a second-round, 2-under 70 on an Old Works course she knows well, tied for 26th at 15-over, as did sophomore Allison Sobol, who closed with a 74.

Also competing at the Rose City Collegiate will be senior Teigan Avery, junior Faith D'Ortenzio, sophomore Brooklyn Van Bebber and freshmen Jessica Ponce and Emmy Sundby.

The field will include 12 teams, seven of which are from the Big Sky Conference. Joining Portland State and Montana from the league will be Eastern Washington, Idaho State, Montana State, Northern Colorado and Weber State.

Portland State won last year's edition of a tournament that's in its 10th year. This is the fifth time the Grizzlies have been in the field.

Boise State would be the favorite next week if last year's end-of-season Golf Stat rankings were used. The Broncos finished the year ranked No. 120.

With a majority of the teams in the field holding end-of-season rankings in the 100s, most of them in the higher 100s, the Rose City Collegiate will be a good test for Nord's team, which had a ranking of 209 at the end of the spring.

"It's a great field for us to be playing against, but we need to not worry about the other teams and focus more on ourselves and getting better. The standings won't matter if we don't get better," said Nord.

It will be a quick turnaround leading into the Griz Match Play Challenge, which will be held Friday and Saturday at the Missoula Country Club. Play will begin at 9 a.m. each day.

Montana will play Montana State on Friday, Eastern Washington will go up against Idaho State, with each team's top five players going head-to-head. Players outside their team's top five will also be matched up, but their results won't count in the team scoring.

"Match play is a completely different dynamic. I love it and want our kids to experience it," said Nord.

"I think it actually takes a little pressure off the kids. You can have a blow-up hole and all you do is lose one point. It's an easier format to do what we talk about, that the most important shot is the next shot and the most important hole is the next hole."

Twosomes of Montana and Montana State golfers will start at No. 1. Eastern Washington and Idaho State will start at No. 10.

Friday's winning teams will match up on Saturday, playing from No. 1. Friday's two losing teams will play from hole 10.

Match play, unlike stroke play, is a more up-tempo format, with players, at times, conceding putts and holes before they've been played out. And when a match has been decided, whether that's after 14 holes or 16 holes or a full 18, the players are done, even if they are all square.

"I love watching the match play in the NCAAs. I'm confused why more schools don't put it into their regular-season schedule," said Nord. "You're not on the course as long, so I think it's more spectator friendly.

"The teams coming in love that we get to play a lot of golf for two days. I think it's a setup that everyone will really appreciate."

Montana will end its fall schedule at the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational in Lakewood, Wash., on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 14-15.

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Players Mentioned

Teigan Avery

Faith D'Ortenzio

Kylie Esh

Tricia Joyce

Jessica Ponce

Allison Sobol

Emmy Sundby

Brooklyn Van Bebber

University of Montana Athletics