Griz head to North Carolina as fall season concludes

The Montana women's golf team will wrap up its fall season next week when the Grizzlies compete in the two-day, 54-hole French Broad Collegiate Invitational.

The tournament, which is hosted by UNC Asheville and named for the local French Broad River, will be played on Monday and Tuesday at The Cliffs at Walnut Cove golf course in Arden, N.C.

It will be the first time Montana has competed in a state on the Atlantic coast since playing in Florida in the fall of 2010.

The tournament will feature two schools from North Carolina, two from South Carolina, plus schools from Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.

"For so many of our tournaments, the players look at the tee sheet and they're like, that's the same group I played with last week," said coach Jimmy Mee.

"At this one, I don't know any of the coaches, the girls don't know any of the players. It will be fun to get on different type of grass, a different type of golf course. It's a good way to end the year."

Montana will compete with a lineup of (1) Raina Ports, (2) Kate Bogenschutz, (3) Katie Lewis, (4) Bella Johnson and (5) Hannah Ports.

"This might be our fifth different lineup in five tournaments, which is what we expected and what the fall is for," said Mee.

"You don't want to be dependent on five people because then there is no competition in practice. Now we have competition in practice all the way through the lineup."

Montana opened its fall season at the Yellowstone Intercollegiate in Bozeman, the start of four tournaments over four weeks, a stretch that ended at the Sun Mountain Intercollegiate in Missoula.

Raina Ports led the Grizzlies at the first three tournaments. Johnson broke through with rounds of 76, 72 and 72 at The Ranch Club to tie for seventh at Sun Mountain earlier this month.

Ports leads the team with a fall scoring average of 75.58. Montana's top six golfers all have sub-80 fall scoring averages.

"Everybody at some point has played well, if not for a full tournament, then at least for a couple rounds," said Mee.

Ports, a senior, has shot rounds of 70, 71, 72 and a pair of 74s this fall. Johnson averaged an 81 for her first six rounds before playing Sun Mountain at 4-over.

Hannah Ports had her best tournament of the fall at Sun Mountain, going 75-78-73. Bogenschutz has played six of her 12 rounds this fall at 76 or better, with a 73 in the second round at Sun Mountain.

Lewis, a freshman, opened her collegiate career with six consecutive rounds of 78 or better, followed with four rounds of 82 or higher, then closed Sun Mountain with scores of 75 and 77.

"Fall is great for our freshmen to learn what college golf is like," said Mee. "Courses are longer, players are better. It takes a little bit of time to adjust to that.

"We know who our players are coming in but we need to see them on the course in a college event to see what everybody has to offer. It's a huge learning curve with your new players.

"What do they need from us as coaches on the golf course? Do they want to see us or do they not want to see us out there? From there, we can develop the best strategy for the spring."

The spring season will open in mid-February at the Bowling Green Intercollegiate at Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield Park, Ariz., site of the Big Sky Conference Championship in April.

"We want to figure out that perfect rotation but we still have plenty of tournaments to do that before we go to conference," said Mee.

Griz head to North Carolina as fall season concludes

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Players Mentioned

Kate Bogenschutz

Bella Johnson

Katie Lewis

Hannah Ports

Raina Ports

University of Montana Athletics