Montana finishes 17th in Sedona

After opening with a round of 312 on Saturday, the Montana women's golf team carded scores of 325 and 316 as the Red Rocks Invitational came to a close on Sunday in Sedona, Ariz.

The Grizzlies finished 17th out of 19 teams at the Oakcreek Country Club in their second of three tournaments leading up to next month's Big Sky Conference Championship in Molalla, Ore.

"It's a tough course, but I didn't feel like we played up to where we should," said coach Kris Nord. "We could have shot better, we just didn't putt.

"I would equate it to basketball, of not being able to make shots. We worked hard and hit the ball okay, but we could not make putts. It was frustrating from that end of things. Too many three-putts."

Jessica Ponce led Montana for the second time in as many tournaments this season, shooting rounds of 75, 81 and 77 to tie for 43rd.

"She was close to taking a few shots off her (third) round," said Nord. "She was leaving putts right on the lip of the cup. She could have been four or five strokes better. She played well. She hung in there."

Faith D'Ortenzio (79-84-75) and Kylie Esh (79-78-81) tied for 64th, Teigan Avery (79-82-83) tied for 81st.

D'Ortenzio's closing round of 75, one off her collegiate best, matched Ponce's opening round for Montana's low score of the tournament.

"Faith drove the ball pretty well, and she made some putts," said Nord. "The few times she got in trouble, she scrambled well and minimized. Jess and Faith minimized their errors.

"That's what we didn't do with the other kids. They had a tougher time after making a bad swing and being in trouble. They tried to do a little too much."

Competing as an individual, Tricia Joyce (80-81-89) tied for 95th, Allison Sobol (84-87-87) finished 103rd.

Gonzaga (297-301-286) and Grand Canyon (294-295-295) tied atop the leaderboard. Grand Canyon won the tiebreaker to earn tournament champion honors.

Grand Canyon's Payton Fehringer (68-73-67), at 8-under, was the individual champion.

Montana won't compete again until the Bobcat Desert Classic on April 12-13 in Goodyear, Ariz.

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Players Mentioned

Teigan Avery

Faith D'Ortenzio

Kylie Esh

Tricia Joyce

Jessica Ponce

Allison Sobol

University of Montana Athletics