Griz golfers to open spring season in Arizona

The Montana women's golf team, which hasn't been in competition since early October but has hardly been hibernating, will open its spring schedule next week at the Bowling Green Intercollegiate.

The 14-team, 54-hole tournament will be played Tuesday and Wednesday at Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield Park, Ariz., 54 holes on Day 1, 18 on Day 2 at what will be the site of April's Big Sky Conference Championship.

The tournament will be the first of six during Montana's spring season, which follows a four-event fall schedule.

It's been long enough since the Grizzlies last competed that they played in the fall under former coach Kris Nord and will now be under first-year coach Jimmy Mee, hired after Nord announced his retirement in December.

Mee had been assisting Nord for two years prior to being elevated to the head job.

"Kris was awesome showing me the ropes about the coaching part," said Mee, who played collegiately at Carroll and was inducted into that school's Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023.

"The harder part was getting used to all the administrative processes, the procedural-type stuff, the nuts and bolts behind recruiting."

In addition to facing Idaho State in September in a match-play event at the Missoula Country Club, Montana competed at tournaments in Utah, Nebraska and Washington and came out of the fall with a team scoring average of 303.88, with more scores in the 290s (5) than the 300s (3).

Montana traveled to Palm Springs, Calif., last month and played two and a half rounds at the well-known La Quinta Country Club, coordinated by a pair of supporters who have residences on the course.

"We were able to do some qualifying to see who's doing well," said Mee, who had his full eight-player squad in California.

"It wasn't the end-all be-all for qualifying because we have a ton of fall scores that still mean a lot, but for some of the spots that are being fought for, we were able to see who is playing better now. That was huge for us going into our first tournament."

Not surprisingly, the five players traveling to Arizona will be those that played all three fall tournaments: sophomore Raina Ports (1), freshman Elle Higgins (2), fifth-year senior Tricia Joyce (3), sophomore Hannah Ports (4) and redshirt freshman Kendall Hayward (5).

All five golfers had fall averages in the mid- to upper-70s. Joyce was at 75.25, Higgins at 75.75, Raina Ports at 76.13, Hayward at 76.50 and Hannah Ports at 79.38.

Higgins (73-73-70) tied for 14th at the Big Sky Conference 54 for IX event, Joyce (79-78) tied for 22nd at the Big O Classic and Joyce (77-73-72) tied for seventh at the Eagle Invitational.

"The same crew we had in the fall and the ones who played the best in Palm Springs will be going to this first event," said Mee.

Tuesday's two-round day will begin with a shotgun start at 8 a.m., Wednesday's final 18 holes will start at 9 a.m.

It should be a competitive field, with only Grand Canyon, at 82, holding a national ranking better than 120. Eight teams are ranked between 120 (Abilene Christian) and 198 (Butler). Four teams, including Montana at 212, are in the low- to mid-200s.

In addition to the Bowling Green Intercollegiate opening the spring season, it will give Montana a preview of the venue for the Big Sky Championship.

"To be on the course of our conference championship at this time of year is huge. We get four extra practice rounds," said Mee, who will have three players on the trip from Arizona, the Ports sisters and Hayward. All played the course during their junior careers. "Some of our girls are familiar going in."

Montana will play at the Lady Thunderbird Invitational in early March in St. George, Utah, then play four tournaments in Arizona: the Red Rocks Invitational (Sedona), the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic (Maricopa), the Bobcat Desert Classic (Goodyear) and the Big Sky Championship (Litchfield Park).

Montana, with scores of 301, 304 and 313, placed ninth at last year's Big Sky Championship at Talking Stick Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Because of snow cover and a winter that seemed to have no end, Montana did not get a full practice round in Missoula prior to last year's Big Sky Championship in April.

"Hopefully we can get some cooperation from the weather this time around and give ourselves an opportunity to be a little sharper for conference," said Mee.

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Players Mentioned

Kendall Hayward

Elle Higgins

Tricia Joyce

Hannah Ports

Raina Ports

University of Montana Athletics