Ports ties for 4th at Red Rocks

Saturday, March 16

Oakcreek Country Club; Sedona, Ariz.

Montana

Red Rocks Invitational

Photo by: Tommy Martino/UM Photo

3/17/2024 5:32:00 PM | Golf

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By: Montana Sports Information

Montana sophomore Raina Ports tied for fourth at the Red Rocks Invitational as the 54-hole tournament wrapped up on Sunday in Sedona, Ariz.

Ports carded scores of 71, 70 and 75 at Oakcreek Country Club to record her second career top-10 finish. It was the Grizzlies' first top-five finish since September 2021.

Ports, 3-under through 36 holes, opened her final round on Sunday with a triple bogey at the par-4 8th to fall back to even but bounced back to play her next 11 holes at 4-under.

She was the overall leader as players made their way through their final nine holes.

"After that early triple, it was smooth sailing for quite a while," said coach Jimmy Mee. "She just got back into the same mentality she was in yesterday. She was cruising."

Playing her next-to-last hole, the par-5 6th, Ports landed her drive in a fairway bunker, hit the lip playing out, then later caught a flier out of the rough and over-hit the green.

She ended up with an 8 to drop back to even par through 53 holes before playing the 7th to par to complete her round.

Northern Illinois's Emily Romancew (71-72-70), at 3-under, won the tournament by a stroke over Northern Colorado's Louise Dahl (73-72-69), by two over Northern Arizona's Lizzie Neale (71-71-73).

Ports was one of four players tied at even par, three off the lead.

"She was rolling, then just kind of got a bad break and it kind of spiraled," said Mee. "It was cool to see her in that situation, to have the pressure on her the last couple holes with a chance to win.

"Now that she's been in that position, we can learn from it. I think she is going to put herself in that position again very shortly."

Kendall Hayward (77-74-72), a redshirt freshman, had her best showing as a Grizzly, tying for 30th as Montana shot rounds of 307, 296 and 305 to finish in 15th place out of 20 teams.

Hayward birdied four of eight holes early in her round on Sunday to get to 3-under on the day.

"She put herself in an uncomfortable situation, too," said Mee. "She was 3-under through 10 holes. Now she knows she can get there."

Hayward's three-round total of 7-over 223 was the best of her collegiate career.

"She might be our most consistent ball-striker and got right back to it today," said Mee. "She definitely got some things figured out this week. I think going forward she is going to be even more solid."

Hannah Ports (77-74-80) tied for 66th, Elle Higgins (82-78-78) tied for 94th and Tricia Joyce (82-80-81) tied for 103rd in the 114-player field.

The top of the team leaderboard was extremely tight, with seven teams finishing within four strokes of each other. Northern Arizona (295-296-290) and Seattle (294-289-298) tied for the tournament title.

Grand Canyon was two strokes back, Northern Illinois and Lipscomb three strokes back, and Weber State and Cal State Fullerton four strokes back.

Montana finished fifth of the seven Big Sky teams competing, defeating Montana State by 22 strokes, Eastern Washington by 32.

The Grizzlies won't compete again for more than two weeks, when the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic opens in Maricopa, Ariz., on Thursday, April 4.

Ports and her teammates who competed in Sedona all will remain in Arizona this week for spring break.

"Raina didn't hit her driver anywhere near how she wanted to this weekend. She is going to go and hash that stuff out," said Mee.

"If she gets that driver going, it's going to be scary if you combine that with how well she's putting it. She's going to be a force to be reckoned with."