Higgins ties for 10th at Bowling Green Intercollegiate

Tuesday, February 13

Wigwam Golf Club; Litchfield Park, Ariz.

Montana

Bowling Green Intercollegiate

Higgins ties for 10th at Bowling Green Intercollegiate

2/14/2024 3:05:00 PM | Golf

Results

By: Montana Sports Information

Montana freshman Elle Higgins closed the Bowling Green Intercollegiate with a 5-over 76 on Wednesday to tie for 10th in the 78-player field at Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield Park, Ariz.

Higgins was the 18-hole leader after opening with a 1-under 70 on Tuesday. She shot a 79 for Tuesday's second 18.

She finished seven strokes behind medalists Zoe Newell (71-74-73) of Idaho and Delaney Martin (71-73-74) of Abilene Christian.

She is the first Montana freshman with a top-10 finish since Raina Ports placed ninth at the Kelsey Chugg Invitational in September 2022.

Higgins was making a move up the leaderboard, sitting 1-under after eight holes on Wednesday but gave away six strokes over her final 10 holes.

"She's not excited about it because she didn't finish the way she wanted to, but that might get a good taste in her mouth," said coach Jimmy Mee.

"Stay in there and grind out a couple more that you let get away and all of a sudden it's top five, then all of a sudden you get in the winner's circle."

Higgins tied for third in the tournament field on the course's par 3's, playing them to 4-over, and tied for fifth on the par 5's, playing them at 4-under.

Montana, which opened with a 310, closed the tournament with back-to-back rounds of 321. The Grizzlies tied for 12th in the 14-team field.

Raina Ports (76-81-79) tied for 36th, Tricia Joyce (82-78-83) tied for 51st, Kendall Hayward (82-83-83) tied for 65th and Hannah Ports (82-84-84) tied for 70th.

"We got off to a shaky start," said Mee. "We actually played awesome in the middle but both days we finished on the meat of the golf course, three par 4's that are incredibly hard.

"We kind of let that psych us out, then it kind of spiraled. When you're playing tough holes, it can be tough to get out of that spiral."

Grand Canyon (294-299-303) won the tournament by five strokes over Idaho (302-297-302). Ball State (309-296-307) finished third.

"It was good to get our feet in the fire a little bit," said Mee. "We know what we need to work on."

The tournament was the first of six for Montana as the Grizzlies opened their spring season and took place at the site of April's Big Sky Conference Championship.

"It was awesome to see this course before conference because it's hard," said Mee. "We're going to have to work on a few different shots, around the green especially.

"Instead of one club, we're going to have to mix it up and be able to hit a bunch of low, high, just all-over-the-place shots. By the time conference gets here, we should hopefully be in a pretty good spot."

Montana will next compete at the Lady Thunderbird Invitational at the Sunbrook Golf Club in St. George, Utah, from March 7-9.