Ponce leads Griz as Montana wraps up fall season

The Montana women's golf team concluded its four-tournament fall schedule on Tuesday with a 20th-place showing at the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational at the Tacoma Country and Golf Club in Tacoma, Wash.

The Grizzlies posted rounds of 320, 317 and 319 on the challenging course.

"It's a tough golf course. It's tight off the tee, and if you hit it in the wrong spot, it's hard to get it up and down and make par," said assistant coach Jim Mee. "It's a course where you need to be on top of your game."

Jessica Ponce (76-80-79) tied for 68th, Kylie Esh (82-79-78) tied for 77th, Madison Cecil (86-76-81) tied for 90th, Meredith Boos (80-82-82) tied for 94th, and Emmy Sundby (82-83-81) tied for 102nd.

Four of Montana's five players didn't have anything worse than a bogey on Tuesday, but there were only two birdies and two scores in the 70s, which highlights the nature of the course.

"The greens are subtle and kind of quick," said Mee. "You can get out of position. You don't think you hit a bad shot, then you get up there and it's in a spot where it's tough to get it up and down."

Host Seattle (287-295-303) won the tournament by four strokes over Santa Clara (297-294-298). Seattle's Rivekka Jumagulova (70-73-68) closed with a 4-under 68 on Tuesday to win by four strokes.

Idaho (312-299-305), which tied for 11th, was the highest-placing Big Sky Conference team of the six competing. The Vandals' Vicky Tsai (79-70-74), who tied for 14th, was the top individual from the Big Sky.

"On a lot of courses you can kind of get away with some stuff and it doesn't really expose areas you need to work on. This golf course highlights areas where you need to get better," said Mee.

"It really gives us a plan to work toward this winter.

The tournament, which featured 20 teams and 110 golfers, was the final event of the fall for Montana, which tied for fifth out of nine teams at the Kelsey Chugg Invitational last month, then won the smaller Battle at Old Works and Griz Invitational.

"We could have competed better, but it's different when you step it up a level and start playing with teams that have some really good players," said Mee.

"It's something you need to get used to. Next time we'll be more prepared when we go into one of these."

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Players Mentioned

Meredith Boos

Madison Cecil

Kylie Esh

Jessica Ponce

Emmy Sundby

University of Montana Athletics