Griz make a bit of history in Arizona - University of Montana Athletics

The Montana women's golf team shot an even-par 288 on Monday as the Bobcat Desert Classic opened at the Golf Club of Estrella in Goodyear, Ariz.

It matched the best round in program history, a record set by the 2010-11 team in the third round of the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic.

After 18 holes of the three-day tournament, Montana is in fifth place behind Grand Canyon (281), Seattle (283), Utah Tech (284) and Wyoming (287) in the 17-team field.

The Grizzlies are ahead of Gonzaga, Washington State and Boise State, in addition to the other six Big Sky teams that are using the tournament as a warm-up for next week's Big Sky Conference Championship.

"Everybody is in a lot better head space after a couple days of practice and getting some fundamental stuff worked out," said coach Jimmy Mee, whose team shot rounds of 307, 307 and 313 last week at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic.

There were only two times on Monday when Montana golfers carded a bogey on back-to-back holes. The Grizzlies had 15 birdies from its five scoring players.

"We went about things a little bit differently," added Mee. "They understood that things can go wrong but that doesn't mean it has to completely ruin the day. We had some ups and downs but they took it in stride and bounced back much sooner than we did at Southern Dunes which was cool to see."

Kendall Hayward shot a 2-under 70, her best round as a Grizzly, and Raina Ports carded a 1-under 71. It's the first time since 2013 that two Montana golfers have gone under par in the same round.

Hayward played the front nine at 2-under, the back nine at even when things weren't coming quite as easily.

"Kendall hit it great on the front nine. On the back nine she did not hit it well. She had the mentality that I'm not hitting it in too bad of spots and just embraced the fact you're going to have to grind out some good rounds," said Mee.

"She mostly got up and down when she needed to and mostly kept the round intact."

Ports got to 1-under through eight holes, then parred the final 10. "Raina hit it really well today," said Mee. "She didn't quite get the putter rolling like she had been or she could have been eight strokes better."

Tricia Joyce shot an even-par 72, her best round of the spring, while Hannah Ports and Elle Higgins both shot 75.

"Hannah and Elle didn't have their best stuff but they were able to post scores that helped the team," said Mee. "Posting a good score when you don't have your best stuff is good to see.

"You want to get to the point where you don't know whose scores are going to be counted. At any point in time any of your five players can shoot under par. There is no doubt in my mind that any of these players can do that."

Hayward is tied for eighth, Raina Ports is tied for 14th on a day that had 22 players under par for their round. Joyce is tied for 23rd, Hannah Ports and Higgins are tied for 51st.

Competing as an individual, Kate Bogenschutz shot a 79.

Seattle's Rivekka Jumagulova and Utah Tech's Mia Cesarek both shot 6-under on Monday to lead the field.

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Kate Bogenschutz

Kendall Hayward

Elle Higgins

Tricia Joyce

Hannah Ports

Raina Ports

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